The Final Conflict
by Relient
Summary: Part 1 of the Time and Again Trilogy; The Autobots and Decepticons meet in what seems as their Final Battle but things do not go as planned for either sides; a disaster sets in motion a series of event that may very well change history as its known.
1. Intro

Full Summary

The Autobots and Decepticons battle it out in space in what appears to be a final battle. Even though both sides are evenly numbered, the Autobots were still losing the battle as it seemed the Decepticons had tactics on their side for the first time. But can one of Wheeljack's inventions turn the tide of battle before reinforcements can arrive? Seeing this the Decepticons decide to strike at the device in order to destroy it, but things go downhill when the device malfunctions from a stray hit and has drastic side effects. The chain reaction created results in the destruction of the device and the loss of 5 mechs. But are they really dead?

Disclaimers:

I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise, they belong to Hasbro.

Author Notes:

This story is a mixture of the different TF universes, its starts off from the movie and continues on using the others. If you do not like it then kindly please move forward to the next fiction as you are not obliged to read this. I haven't written a fic in a long while so do bare with me. I will update this chapter in a couple of days with all the different information on the transformers I will be using and their different alt modes with colour schemes. Not exactly figured out alt modes for some of them but I will post it up once its done. This is just to help readers have a place of reference and, if your like me and like to look up the alt modes, this will help you out.

This is the first part of a trilogy I have in my head, I might do some side stories also. These fics are purely focused on the transformers so there's going to be minimal involvement from Earth, I might put some in the last part but its mainly about Cybertron. There's no slash so content is viewable by everyone without fear of having your minds corrupted. There will be hints of relationships but that's as far as I go, these stories are focused more on the war and each transformers role within it than social life.

Please R & R, even if its bad reviews, tells a person if its worth continuing or not.

**Autobots:** _characters from the 07/09 movies have the same alt modes and colours_

Prowl: Nissan GTR R35 Modified (White/Black - Japanese Police Force)

Wheeljack: Saturn Sky Redline (White with Green Accent)

Mirage: Ferrari 612 GTO Concept (Midnight Blue with White Racing Strips)

Blaster: Infinity Essence Hybrid (Silver)

Windcharger: Dodge Viper 2010 Concept (Gunmetal Blue with Black Racing Strips)

Silverbolt: Tsybin RSR (Silver)

Air Raid: Lockheed Martin F-16C Falcon (Black Knights Colour Scheme)

Skydive: Kawasaki T-4 (Blue Impulse Colour Scheme)

Skyfire: Lockheed C-130B-II Hercules modified (White with Red Accent)

**Decepticons:** _characters from the 07/09 movies have the same alt modes and colours_

Sunstorm: McDonnell Douglas F-14 Tomcat (Bengals Colour Scheme)

Acid Storm: Lockheed Martin F-16 Falcon (Thunderbirds Colour Scheme)

Slipstream: Eurofighter Gmbh EF-2000 Typhoon (Blue Aggressor)

Runamuck: Dodge Ram 2500 (White)

Runabout: BMW X-6 Hybrid (Black)

Breakdown: Honda S2000 (Silver)

Dead End: Volvo SC90 (Storm Gray)

Ramjet, Dirge and Thrust: Cybertronian Jets (Chrome/Silver)

Stormcloud: Westland Lynx (Black)

Blast Off: Cybertronian Carrier (Deep Purple)


	2. Prologue

**Prologue**

Cyberton, a planet home to a race known on Earth as the Transformers, beings composed of metal who have the ability to transform into any type of Earthen vehicle or item. Two factions, Autobots and Decepticons, have raged war against each other for vorns, destroying their home world and in turn, driving their war towards Earth. Now Earth faces a similar fate as that of Cybertron, but as long as the Autobots live, they will make sure that the same does not happen on Earth; but can they truly stop the Decepticons from repeating history? Many felt that the war had gone on too long resulting in too many sacrifices including their planet and the essence of their being, the All Spark.

* * *

><p><em>Aboard the Nemesis…<em>

Soundwave looked out of the ruined viewports of the bridge of their destroyed flagship, the Nemesis, wondering where everything went wrong. He felt as if it was only yesterday that he was in one of the many gardens in Kaon, just enjoying life with his sparklings. He could not fathom how he was still here while each one of his sparklings have been going offline one after the other. As their creator he should have had to die first, not them and yet that is what fate has in-store for him. First Buzzsaw, then Rumble, followed by Frenzy and Ravage, and now his last sparkling, Laserbeak. _Curse those Autobots!_

So lost in thought he was that he did not hear anyone approach him until they spoke. "I heard about Laserbeak", the speaker said waiting for any sort of acknowledgement for his presence, "I'm sorry Soundwave."

"Apology: irrelevant", said Soundwave turning towards the speaker, "Statement: You do not understand."

"I may not understand what it is like to lose a sparkling but I do know what it feels like to lose family. Even though those two lugnuts were not, what is human saying, 'family by blood', they were still the closest thing. Sometimes I wonder what we are really fighting for and if this war is just Megatron's personal battle with Prime over power".

"If he hears you Starscream, you will be punished severely," answered Soundwave. Starscream just turned away smirking, "What can he do that he has not already done Soundwave. It's not like he can make our lives any more miserable; killing us would just be a way out of this sorry existence."

Nodding in agreement, Soundwave pondered if what Starscream said was true; would ending his existence be the only way out? He had always been loyal towards Megatron but over the last few years there has been doubt lingering in his mind. Doubt that maybe this war is not about saving Cybertron, or equality between Decepticons and Autobots. That this war was Megatron's attempt to seize power over all Cybertronians. Through his telepathic abilities, he was aware that there are others that share the same doubt, a prime example being the other participant of this conversation.

"The Autobots all think that we, Decepticons, are sparkless killers. I believe that vorns of anger towards the council for their favouritism over the Autobot types and the mistreatment of our kind rallied us under the High Lord Protector in this unending war against them," sneered Starscream.

"Question: Are you stating that we have been used by our leader Megatron?" queried Soundwave, saying the very thing that Starscream would not admit out loud for fear of being punished by the warlord. Nodding his confirmation, Starscream walked away in silent contemplation.

Turning back to the viewport, Soundwave knew he had a lot to think about in terms of his position within the war. He was weary and wished for any semblance of peace after the losses he had personally suffered. His home, his sparklings, even his role were all gone and there was no motivation remaining to keep fighting this war. But even peace would elude him as he would forever be viewed as an enemy of the humans and their Autobot allies. His actions of the past would haunt him as he had been an integral part in the propagation of this war. Sighing, Soundwave walked away from the viewport in search of something more productive to do.

* * *

><p><em>Miles away on Earth, within the confines of the NEST base…<em>

It was late in the night when Prowl decided to leave his make shift office at the human base in favour of some recharge time. It had only been a few months since he arrived to Earth and already he had his work cut out for him. With Jazz gone, he was left to take care of the saboteur's duties on top of his own as the Autobot Second in Command. He could not believe that Jazz was truly gone; it just did not seem real because Jazz was always the survivor out of the two. No matter what the situation, he always found a way out but it seemed his luck ran out that fateful day in MissionCity. 'Why did you have to go and try to be hero Jazz,' thought Prowl sadly.

Best friends since as long as he could remember, Prowl's only regret was that he never bonded with Jazz. But that was not possible with their positions as Second and Third in Command of the Autobots. It was common knowledge that if one of the bonded were to offline, the other would soon follow. This was something they could not risk as two of the highest ranking officers within the Autobot forces apart from the Prime. Jazz always had pointed out that the Autobots needed Prowl more than him because of his battle computer and strategic planning abilities, but he disagreed with that line of thought. Without Jazz, morale was at its lowest as he was what kept the bots from thinking the worst of this war. No matter the situation, he always had a way of cheering everyone up.

So occupied he was that he did not realize that he had actually headed for the hanger instead of his quarters. Looking out into the night sky as he walked out of the Hanger, he wondered if there would be an end to this war. He was getting too old and tired; it seemed that his days back in Praxus never existed. _Praxus…_, the thought of his home made him grimace; Praxus was a Neutral city in the early days of the war and yet Megatron found it appropriate to level the city as a demonstration of his growing power. Any mention of his home also reminded him of a certain sniper who was saved from the ruins once the Decepticons were finished destroying the city. He did not know where Bluestreak was but feared that he had already passed on to the matrix; to Jazz. And he would never truly know with everyone scattered across the galaxy, either hiding from the cons or defending the few civilian groups left.

Sounds of shuffling from the Hanger entrance made him turnaround from his view of the night sky. He wondered why anyone would be up at this hour of the night as he was always the one to go into recharge last. "You are up late, can't recharge?" he asked.

"Yea something like that," replied Sideswipe, "was thinking about going for a drive." Frowning at the bot Prowl said, "You know that speeding isn't allowed Sideswipe, it's against the rules."

"Who said I was gonna speed?" Sideswipe asked with a cocky grin. "Hmm let's see, corvette alt mode, time of the night means streets are empty, and with your love for speed, I think it's safe to conclude what you were going to do."

Slouching, Sideswipe just grumbled, "Geez Prowl". Seeing the look he was being given, Prowl figured he could break the rules just this once, but he was going to go with him to make sure he didn't get into trouble, "Alright, just this once but I will go with you."

"Really!" exclaimed Sideswipe with a grin, "Let's roll!". Shifting into his alt mode, Sideswipe did not wait for Prowl as he burned rubber and roared out the front gates. Shaking his head, Prowl could only mouth _youngling_ before shifting himself and racing after the crazy warrior. He knew that this was Sideswipes' ways of relieving the stress from his systems and so the reason for conceding to the idea. In the past he would prank others as a way of dealing with the war and, of course, he would have his twin, Sunstreaker, to back him up when needed. But that Sideswipe died the day Sunstreaker perished in defending the All Spark before it was launched into space. A lot of good bots offlined that fateful day, and he still remembered the names of everyone that gave their sparks in order to safeguard the All Spark from Megatron; Trailbreaker, Tracks, Perceptor, First Aid, Brawn were just a few names amongst many, killed by former friends in the name of Megatron's Glory.

"Hey Prowl, you're lagging behind! Getting old huh?" laughed Sideswipe over the comm. "A human toddler could race you and win at this rate."

"I'll show you old youngling", and with that gunned it as fast as he could to catch up to the corvette. Prowl wasn't faster than Sideswipe but he could definitely keep up with him. Following closely behind the corvette, zipping through the narrow streets on the island Prowl noticed that they were heading in the direction of the sea. Curious as to why Sideswipe would pick such a destination, he quietly followed him to their destination, coming to rest beside him near a rock formation. Neither spoke for a while, just basking in the quiet sounds of the waves.

It was Sideswipe who broke the silence first, "Do you think this war will ever end Prowl?"

Pondering on the hidden meaning behind the statement, Prowl knew that the only reason Sideswipe was alive was because of a promise he made to his twin; to see the war to its end before joining his brother in the matrix.

"One day Sideswipe, this war will end, Megatron will not win", promised Prowl, "I just do not know how soon that time will come. But I will see it to the end for the countless sacrifices we have made". Sideswipe could only nod to this.

"You know you can talk to us, it's not good to keep everything inside. Most of us understand you better than you feel we do," Prowl said hoping he would open up to him, but all he got was silence from the younger one.

Trying again to get him to open up, Prowl just mentioned one thing, "I believe that both sides are more or less done with this war and just want peace, I hope we will see the day the Decepticons give in sooner rather than later". A nod of acknowledgement was all he received for his troubles but he could not expect more from the warrior and that was fine, _at least he still listens even if he doesn't converse anymore_. This was not his area of expertise and these were the times he dearly wished Jazz was around, he would know exactly what to say to the youngling.

After about an hour, the two decided it was time to head back and get some recharge time in before morning came. Sideswipe was the first one through the Hanger doors and as he reached the inner entrance, he just whispered a soft 'thank you' to Prowl before disappearing to his quarters. This earned a soft smile from Prowl, knowing that he was able to do even a tiny bit for him. Content with this, he headed for his own quarters for some rest before his day began.


	3. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Calm before the Storm**

The days following their drive went uneventful for the majority, with the exception of a few fights between the Chevy twins, Ironhide's explicit display of weaponry and Ratchet's angry mood swings over repairing the twins after one of their more violent arguments; just another day in the Autobot life. The Decepticon activity was at its lowest with rarely any sighting of new unknown Cybertronian signatures. Everyone was just under the assumption that they must be laying low after their recent defeat which ended with Megatron being severely damaged again along with a few others. Even still, Optimus Prime called an officers meeting just on an update of the current situations here and outside of Earth. Which is where Prowl found himself early one morning, staring at reports gathered from Human and Autobot intelligence alike.

"Everything has been pretty quiet these last few weeks, it does not seem that the Decepticons will be up to much trouble till Megatron is back in action, and without a proper medic, that should be a while," Prowl concluded as he looked over the recent intelligence reports.

"I say we just find them and blast them to bits", commented Ironhide, "The humans have a saying, 'give them a taste of their own medicine'." Of course this did not give any insight or a solution to the current situation with the Decepticons but it did give Ratchet and Bumblebee something to laugh about.

"We cannot walk in blind just because we believe they are incapacitated at the moment, and that also is not confirmed, they may just be plotting some big scheme and thus laying low in order to execute their plans at the appropriate time".

"Prowl, when was the last time the Decepticons have been quiet?" inquired Ironhide. Taking a moment to think about, Prowl realized that it had been a long while since they had not heard of a report regarding some plan of the Decepticons.

"I think we should not let out guard down," was Optimus' reply, "even if it is true that they are in fact incapacitated at the moment with Megatron out of action, there is still the threat that Starscream or Soundwave may be scheming in his stead."

"The only thing Starscream is good enough to plot about is overthrowing Megatron and we've seen how successful that has been in the past," stated Ratchet sarcastically, receiving nods of agreement from everyone in response.

"Maybe your right old friend but I do not want to endanger anyone based on suspicions and not facts," Prime replied, "Bumblebee can you get one of your bots out there to do some recon work and find out what the Decepticons are up to."

"Yes Sir, I'll have Mirage look into it as soon as we are done here."

"Very well, let's have everyone on standby mode just in case something does come up. I will inform Major Lennox and the Secretary of Defense of our position, is that all?" Optimus asked.

Receiving nods from everyone, Prime called the meeting to an end and dismissed everyone. Prowl took his time in gathering his reports while running the different scenarios through his battle computer.

"Prowl," Ratchet called out as he walked over to him, "I've noticed that you have been holed up in your office more lately". It wasn't as much a statement as an accusation. "I have been busy Ratchet, there is a lot of work to get done and even though Bumblebee is now taking care of Special Ops duties, I still have to take care of Jazz's duties as Third in Command".

"So then ask Prime to assign the work to someone like Ironhide, you can't do everything yourself and if you won't go talk to him about it then I will".

"That will not be necessary Ratchet I assure you, I have been planning to talk to Optimus but I have not been able to find time in between all these meetings and my work. I will talk to him though as soon as I get the chance", promised Prowl. "I'll hold you to that then, but if it's not soon enough I will talk to him myself," grumbled Ratchet.

Prowl could only nod before walking towards his office intent on finishing the reports before nightfall. Ratchet stared after the Tactician sadly, knowing full well the reasons why he would not go and speak to Optimus about Jazz's duties. As a medic, Ratchet felt compelled to try and help Prowl out because he knew he was still hurting over Jazz's death and it made the situation even worse for Ratchet knowing that there wasn't anything he could do to help him. _I wish Bluestreak was here_, thought Ratchet sorrowfully.

At that moment, Sideswipe poked his head into the room. "Hey Ratch!", he called out as he walked towards him grinning, "the twins are at it again,". Growling, Ratchet merely yelled, "If they don't stop fighting I swear I'll turn them into Toaster ovens!"

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile aboard the Nemesis….<em>

"Starscreeeeaaaaam!"

"Yes Lord Megatron," drawled Starscream. "I want you to take whoever you can find and strike at the Auto-brats!" ordered Megatron. "Yes of course, let me get on that as soon as I can find some non-half bit cons that aren't damage without a plan. Oh yes Lord Megatron I'll get right on it".

"Are you mocking me Starscream?" roared Megatron furiously, "Me? Why not at all, I would never dream of insulting the High Lord himself least I want to join my brothers in the matrix". Even as Starscream said this, Megatron knew his treacherous Second was plotting his demise. "Take Soundwave and do whatever you have to, I don't want those Autobots getting too comfortable with the temporary silence".

"Yes My Lord," and with a mock bow, left the Warlord to see to his new task. As he strode down the torn hallways of the Nemesis, Starcream saw Soundwave heading towards him, "Statement: Lord Megatron has informed me of our new mission".

"You call this a mission, more like suicide. We do not have the mech power to take on the Autobots at this time and yet here is Megatron just throwing whoever he has left at the Autobot mercy without a plan. If this isn't a sign of his inadequacy as a leader then I don't know what is", griped Starscream. Soundwave just silently followed the grumbling Second in Command to the bridge in order to start preparation for their new mission. In some ways Soundwave felt relieved to have something to do as it kept him from his recent line of thought regarding the Warlord and their cause. He was still loyal to Megatron, that would never change but he questioned his choices since his return to the Decepticons. The Megatron in the past would never have bowed down to another such as The Fallen or even hand out a mission to his deceitful Second without him being present.

* * *

><p><em>Few days later…<em>

A knock at his door pulled Prime away from the current report he was reading, which he received from Prowl about the different strategies they could employ against the Decepticons alongside the humans.

"Come in", he called out to his guest.

"Optimus may I speak with you?" it was Bumblebee, "Yes how can I help you Bumblebee?".

"Sir, Mirage just sent us a communiqué", Bumblebee said.

"And what did he have to report?" Prime asked cautiously.

"It seems you were right, the Decepticons are up to something as there has been an increase in activity on board the Nemesis. He doesn't know exactly what they are up to but from what he has gathered so far, Megatron is indeed incapacitated for the time being but it seems Starscream and Soundwave are planning something. Mirage has repeatedly caught them on the bridge of the Nemesis, planning a strike from the bits he has overheard".

Sighing, Optimus turned towards the only window in his 'office', thinking on the new information provided to him. Knowing that he would have to set up an officers meeting, he contacted Prowl, "Optimus to Prowl". "Go ahead Sir", came the immediate reply from his second, "Can you get all the officers together, we have some new intel on the Decepticons".

"Yes Sir, I'll have everyone in the conference room in 5 kliks, Prowl out".

"Bumblebee have Mirage return to base immediately, I would like his official report as soon as possible", stated Prime. "Yes Sir".

With that said, Optimus set off towards communications in order to contact the Secretary of Defense to apprise him of the situation. On his way there he bumped into Ironhide, who was on his way to the officer's meeting, "What's this meeting about Optimus?" questioned Ironhide.

"We have received new intel from Mirage about the Decepticons, I'm on my way to contact the Secretary of Defense before joining you all", and with that left Ironhide to finish the task at hand. Pondering for a moment if he should follow Optimus or head towards the meeting, he opted for the former and went after Prime. He entered communications just as Optimus voiced his reason for contact, "We have just received word from our ops agent on the Nemesis that the Decepticons are planning something as we speak, I do not have all the details as yet but I have called a meeting for all senior Autobots in order to sort this out. I will contact you shortly with more information on the situation", Optimus concluded.

"Thank you for letting me know and keeping me appraised of the situation, I will inform the president personally and await your details", was the terse reply from the Secretary of Defense before signing off.

"So it's true?" questioned Ironhide, "the Decepticons are planning something?". Optimus looked at him sadly before replying, "I'm afraid so, Mirage reported via a coded message to Bumblebee with his findings and is on his way back to base for a full report. Come; let's discuss this with the others."


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Meetings**

As they entered the conference room, Ironhide could tell the mood was sour and that Bumblebee had already filled the rest in on the situation. "I'm sure Bumblebee has already told you of our new intel, as you all know Mirage infiltrated the cons base and was able to discover that they are indeed planning a strike. Without Mirage here to report his findings in detail I'm afraid that we can only speculate as to what they may have in store".

"Sir, did Mirage give an idea as to where they are going to strike?" asked Ratchet.

"No, his message only said that Starscream and Soundwave are planning a strike and that he will have the details once he returns," stated Bumblebee.

"Optimus, I have a suggestion; Wheellack has been working on a device for some time now. He says it's a device capable of creating temporal displacements allowing us to see the Decepticons movement before it happens. This could come in handy against the cons; Ratchet you know more about this than I do," stated Prowl.

Sighing, Ratchet filled everyone in, "Yes Jack was working on a device that he hopes can manipulate the space time continuum by allowing us to see a Decepticons next move and counter it. But this is all theoretical, he's been working on this for thousands of vorns now, it was a project he started with Perceptor. I started helping him where I could after the Battle for the All Spark but I don't know the progress of the device since we got separated. In fact I wasn't aware that he had it on base with him, I haven't really gotten a chance to speak to him about it since he rejoined us".

"Prowl could you ask Wheeljack to join us for this meeting, please," asked Prime.

"He's already on his way here," was Prowl's prompt reply. He always made it a point to be one step ahead of everyone so it didn't come as a surprise to anyone that he had comm'd Wheeljack before being asked. It only took a few kliks for the Engineer to arrive, "Wheeljack, thank you for joining us, Prowl and Ratchet were just telling us about the project you have been working on for a while, and we would like to know more about it".

"Sure Prime, it's a sort of 'time machine' I guess you could call it except it's not designed to send someone forward or back in time, rather just to see the immediate future. Temporal science is very unpredictable which is why it's taken me forever on this project".

"How is it supposed to work?" inquired Bumblebee, "Well Bee, it creates a field around the device and anyone within this field is able to see what can happen in the immediate future. It can be 5 seconds into the future or 5 minutes, all depends on the settings. I guess you can say that it's like having precognition as the humans call it. Time inside the field is basically sped up, so only the people within the field are affected and will see what's going to happen".

"Is it dangerous?" asked Ironhide skeptically knowing the engineer's track record for having inventions blow up in his faceplates. "It won't blow up I assure you, unless its damaged of course," with a pause he turned to his leader, "May I ask why the sudden interest in my invention?"

"We have a situation, the cons are planning something and we do not know what as yet. Right now we are waiting for Mirage to return so we can get a more detailed report on the con activity," explained Optimus.

"The best course of action would be to hit them in space, which will minimize damage to this planet and will allow us to battle more freely without having to worry about harming the humans".

"That would help a lot of our battle strategies Prowl", replied Ironhide.

"You know that most bots are not designed for a space battle," retorted Ratchet.

"Yes we are aware that we are at a disadvantage, Prowl what do we know about the Decepticon forces?" queried Prime.

"We have been systematically destroying all the Decepticons on Earth but we do not have a count of how many there are in space or on board the Nemesis. Mirage will be able to give us a count of the cons on the Nemesis but that is all we know. And we still have not found Barricade, he's hidden somewhere on Earth and probably will use this as an opportunity to strike us".

"You are thinking of using my device to even the odds of this battle," Wheeljack stated. "I wish to keep it as a backup in case we are overwhelmed and the odds are against us," replied Optimus.

"My battle computer has given me the plausible scenarios, the only one with an 86% chance of success is if we lure the Decepticons to the moon and fight them there, which should eliminate any space battles. If we use Wheeljack's device, that chance increases to 90%."

"Now that we are all aware of the current threat, let's await Mirage's return and see what detailed intel he can give us. In the meantime, I will inform the Secretary of Defense of our probable plan. Let's make the necessary preparations, you are dismissed," concluded Optimus Prime.

Everyone filed out in their own groups towards their tasks, Ratchet and Wheeljack left together to finish work on his device and make it ready for battle, while Ironhide and Bumblebee went down to commons in order to appraise their human and autobot friends of the battle to come, leaving Prowl to retreat to his office in order to strategize their up-coming battle.

* * *

><p><em>Aboard the Nemesis<em>

"This should do well for now Soundwave; I think we should have more of a chance of winning with this plan than we ever will with any of Megatron's".

Soundwave could only nod, taking in the plan they had set forward. They were evenly matched with the Autobots even though they suffered a lot in their last skirmish but both were confident they could match the bots with the help of Barricade. Having come out of hiding, Barricade was their only spy on Earth and it would stay that way as long as they needed him. With the latest intel from him, they were able to devise a formidable plan and Starscream did not want to waste any more time, he wanted things to be set in motion.

This found Barricade on the move for his part of the plan while Starscream and Soundwave rounded up the Decepticons on board the Nemesis. Sending a data burst of their plans via the Decepticon frequency, Starscream set off to inform Megatron in detail as to their course of action, _I'm going to enjoy throwing this victory in his faceplates_, thought Starscream.

Within the shadows of the hallway, Mirage heard everything said between Soundwave and Starscream. Deciding that he had overstayed his welcome, he began to make his way towards the nearest hatch in order to report back to Autobot HQ. What he was not aware of was that Soundwave had detected his presence in that moment and sent a coded message to Starscream. As Mirage made his way out of the Nemesis, he was met with two Decepticons patrolling the hallways. That was when he knew his cover was blown, and so hasten his retreat before he was discovered for good. He decided to take the exit furthest away from the bridge, knowing the one he was headed for would have guards by now. With any luck, those exits would be left relatively unguarded; and he was right as he approached his destination. There was only one guard at this exit who he was able to incapacitate fairly easily. Once outside, he quickly made his retreat towards Earth.

* * *

><p><em>On the bridge<em>

Soundwave saw the blip on the radar speeding away from the Nemesis and knew this would not bode well for them. "The Autobot has escaped and is making his way to Earth," stated Soundwave as Starscream entered the bridge area.

"What is the point of having minions if I have to do everything myself!" growled Starscream. "Soundwave prepare to depart in a cycle, we will have to speed things up and strike before the Autobots can gather".

"Acknowledged," and with that, left the bridge. Now alone, Starscream knew that any information the Autobot took back to their base would be detrimental to the plan he had. The only option was to execute their plans ahead of schedule and hope the entire thing does not blow up in their faceplates. Going over to the comm station, he sent a coded message to Barricade information him of the change in timing. Receiving an affirmative from him, Starscream left the bridge to finish his preparations.

* * *

><p><em>Later next evening<em>…

Mirage's entry into Earth's atmosphere was too hasty and he ended up much farther from base than he anticipated. Without an alt-mode with flight capabilities, he contacted the NEST base in order to request a pick-up. Once appraised of his situation, Optimus sent out Skyfire to retrieve him and that's where he found himself a joor later.

"So what's the cons planning this time Mirage", asked Skyfire casually. "It seems they have planned a two front attack on us; I must say that I did not know Starscream could plan anything. I only heard parts of their conversation and the parts I heard does not bode well for us".

"Optimus is not going to like this one bit," Skyfire said sourly, "No one knows that Starscream is actually a brilliant strategist and with his scientific background, he can be a  
>formidable enemy if it wasn't for his cowardice".<p>

"Well good thing for us that he values his own spark over everything else, otherwise we would have been scrapped a long time ago".

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, both deep in thought about the upcoming confrontation. It wasn't much later that Skyfire announced their arrival at HQ. Receiving a comm from Optimus to meet him in the conference room, Mirage mentally prepared the report he was going to give Optimus. As he reached the room, he was surprised to see all of the officers. What was more surprising was the fact that Wheeljack was present and he didn't know why the Engineer would be called to an officers meeting. Giving a nod of acknowledgement to his peers, Mirage sent his report to the mechs present via data burst and faced his leader, "Sir, it seems Megatron has given Starscream and Soundwave the task of planning an attack on us. And from what I have been able to gather, they have a pretty solid plan. They plan to use Barricade as a distraction in order to execute their main objection which is to strike HQ; I was unable to determine where Barricade is located as Starscream made it a point never to mention his location."

"That's just great, how are we supposed to prepare any sort of defense if we don't know what they have in store? We can have a defense here but we will not be able to defend against whatever Barricade is up to until it's too late."

"There are only so many things they can do Ironhide, we will just have to be on high alert since we do not know the full extent of their plans," Optimus said.

"There is one more thing that I found out; I believe there are some second thoughts amongst some of the Decepticons. I think their loyalty towards Megatron and the cause may be wavering; some think that Megatron has finally lost it with their newest assignment."

Ratchet snorted, "They are only now realizing that Megatron is insane; they really are a few bolts short".

"What's their mech count Mirage?"

"There aren't many cons on the Nemesis Ironhide; about 17 including Megatron but out of that only 9 are battle ready as the rest are damaged."

At that moment, the battle warning went off throughout the base. "Tactical; Report," ordered Prowl almost immediately, "Sir, one of our operatives in Washington just sighted Barricade, we suspect he is heading for the White House."

A look of dread descended on each Autobot present, they knew that if any harm came to the President of the United States then the Americans would deem it an act of terrorism and retaliate against whoever they felt is a threat as a very small portion of their military was aware of the Cybertronians on their planet. This would lead Earth into a World War and they could not allow that to happen, they had to stop Barricade.

"Prowl, I want you and a group of Autobots to head towards the Nemesis and make sure the cons from space cannot attack us here. Bumblebee, get a team together; we will go after Barricade and we'll take Skyfire with us as backup."

Prowl ran the variables through his battle computer and came up with the perfect line up of mechs to take, "Prowl to Sideswipe, Windcharger, Blaster, and Silverbolt, report to the hanger immediately. Silverbolt, bring the other Arielbots with you." Receiving acknowledgements from each, he turned towards the other officers, "Ratchet, Wheeljack and Ironhide, I'm going to need you three to come with me. Bumblebee if I could borrow Mirage that would be very beneficial."

Bumblebee only nodded before the group raced towards the Hanger to intercept the cons. He too left with Prime, comm'ing Jolt and the twins in the process to meet up with Skyfire and them. Even as he made his way to the Hanger, Bumblebee had a foreboding feeling that things were going to go horribly wrong for them.


	5. Chapter 3

_Author Note: I have corrected some mistakes in previous chapters regarding grammer, spelling and missing information and also changed/added bits of information to the Intro. I have just noted the main ones pertaining to this chapter here._

_- Mirage's count on the con who are able to fight is 9 and from this chapter you'll know who the 7 are apart from Soundwave and Starscream._

_- Changed Runabout's colour to Black instead of Aqua and Runamuck's alt mode to a Dodge Ram 2500 instead of Dodge Ram Sport._

_- Added Skyfire: Lockheed C-130B-II Hercules modified (White with Red Accent)_

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 3: The Ruse<span>**

As they made their way to Washington, Prime was able to fill the Secretary of Defense in on the situation. Unfortunately with Barricade's skills, the humans had no way of detecting the con until he was right on top of them. The secrecy of their presence on Earth also complicated the situation as they had to land away from their destination, near the water by Lincoln Memorial to avoid detection. The second Skyfire opened his bay doors, Bumblebee and Jolt raced out, leaving the twins to follow behind with their leader. Thanks to the special license plates provided to them by the president, they would be able to speed through the city without fear of being pulled over by the local police force. Once the grounders left, Skyfire flew towards their destination in stealth mode; he would provide air coverage and surveillance for them until the US military and Air Force arrived.

"Optimus, Jolt and I just entered Independence Avenue; we are going to cross the bridge and head north on 15th."

"Roger that Bumblebee, the Twins and I will take 17th north. Let's try to cut off his escape routes shall we."

"Affirmative, Bumblebee out."

As the two were passing the Department of Commerce Building, Bumblebee noticed they were being tailed by a SUV. He could not make out the make or model but decided to keep an eye on the vehicle. His scans did not show anything but he was also too far away from the vehicle to get a proper reading. "Jolt, can you scan that SUV following us for Cybertronian signatures."

Abiding by the request, his scanners immediately threw warnings at him, "Bee that's a con!" was Jolt's hurried response.

"Head into the park and try to lead him away; If he takes the bait, whatever you do, do not engage him in front of any humans".

"Got it", and with that, took the next left turn into the park. The con immediately followed him instead of Bumblebee, probably to leave him to be dealt with by Barricade.

"Bumblebee to Optimus, we just sited another con following us. We don't know who it is but Jolt just led him into President's Park. He knows not to transform if humans are present. There has to be more of them around but my scanners are not picking anything up. It seems they have found a way to mask their signatures".

"We will be on the lookout for additional cons."

"Prime we gotz two followin us," Mudflaps comm'd at that moment, "there waz a third but he turned down the last street yo."

"Bumblebee we may have three more cons. Optimus to Skyfire, can you track the third vehicle by air?"

"I have him on my radar Prime, he's heading straight for you," yelled Skyfire but the warning was too late. At that moment, Optimus picked up the vehicle in close proximity on his scanners. Looking in the direction on his scanner, he saw a white Dodge Ram on a collision course with him as he entered the intersection. If he moved out of the way, the con would go barreling into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, killing whomever inside in the process. He could not allow that to happen and so did the only thing he could; he braked hard in the middle of the intersection, right in the way of the con. The shriek of metal against metal was heard as the two collided and the twins were painfully aware of what their leader had just done. Even though the Dodge was smaller than Optimus, his speed was enough to afflict damage upon the Prime.

The force of the impact forced Optimus to take a 180 degree turn in order to minimize damage. Stopping for a mere second to get his bearings, Optimus headed south on 17th with the Ram following close behind, but soon ran into the other two cons who were initially following them. Optimus took a brief look at the map of the area before deciding to make a sharp left into State PI. Smashing through the gates with the Dodge hot on his tail, his plan was to lead the cons into the park area, away from humans for the battle he knew they could not avoid. Entering the area, Optimus saw the con transforming and decided to skid 90 degrees while transforming and met the con head on. The momentum sent the two barreling into a line of trees and, had the other two cons not swerved around, they would have crashed into their con buddy. Using this brief distraction to their advantage, Skids and Mudflaps transformed and opened fire, scoring several hits on the cons.

With snarls of disgust, the two vehicles, a Volvo SC90 and a Honda S2000, transformed and sized up their opponents. The chevy twins were much smaller than the two but this did not deter them from a fight, "Breakdown and Dead End…man…you guyz are the ugliest tin canz we'z ever seen?" taunted Mudflaps. "Shut up midget," snarled Dead End, "Help Runamuck out, I'll take care of these two shrimps". Without waiting for an acknowledgement, he engaged the twins.

Breakdown just shook his head at Dead End's behaviour before following the line of fallen trees to where he knew Runamuck was battling Prime. As he cleared the trees, he found the two throwing punches at each other before deciding on ramming Prime.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile…<em>

Bumblebee was almost at the White House gates when he ran into, literally speaking, Barricade. Had it not been for his honed skills as Special Ops, he would have collided with the police cruiser but his scanners had picked up a spike in the last second and instincts was what saved him. Throwing himself into a 180 degree drift around the con, Bumblebee opted to accelerate coming out of the turn and ram the con on his passenger side. But Barricade foresaw this and mimicked the bot's initial turn, paralleling him in order to avoid him; if it weren't for the fact that the two were mortal enemies, their timing would have been mistaken for a well practiced stunt.

"You cannot stop us bug," and with that gunned it down the street he was originally heading with Bumblebee on his tail. With the streets fairly empty at this time of night, Barricade knew he would not be able to shake off the scout. Not deterring from the task at hand, Bumblebee sped up and rear ended the con. With a growl, Barricade also sped up but then went into a 180 degree turn, heading straight for Bumblebee. The two met head on, transforming in the process and exchanging weapons fire. Knowing he could not fight him here without fear of being discovered, Bumblebee fired one last shot before transforming to his alt mode and speeding towards where he knew Jolt was battling the other con.

Bumblebee blocked every advance Barricade made to overtake him, leading him away from the White House. As they entered the park, he made a beeline for the trees, zigzagging through them hoping this would lead the con to make a mistake. And he was right when he saw a tree too close to his left side and swerved at the last moment but Barricade was not that lucky. He was able to avoid crashing into the tree entirely but at the cost of damage to his driver's side door, fender and bumper, effectively halting him for a couple of minutes.

"Bee I need some help with Runabout," Jolt requested frantically.

At this, he sped towards Jolt's signature, hoping he would not be too late. Just as he arrived, he saw the con aiming his weapon at Jolt's spark chamber. Time seemed to slow for him, all he saw was the weapon and the look on Jolt's faceplates, knowing he had to save his friend. Not wasting another astrosecond, he took a gamble and aimed for the sensitive wiring at the base of the cons head before firing. The shot hit its mark, making the cons shot go wide and hitting Jolt's shoulder plating instead of his spark. Pleased with his timing and aim, Bumblebee's momentary distraction came at a price. He wasn't paying attention to his rear and was too late to avoid the attack Barricade had sprung on him.

Barricade fired three shots at the scout, scoring two hits and one miss but that was enough for him to launch a close quarter attack on Bumblebee. But even with his injuries, Bumblebee was able to roll out of the way in time before getting back on his pedes. System warnings flashed before him but he did not pay heed to them; he could not allow for another distraction or he would surely lose his spark.

As the two attacked each other fiercely, Bumblebee was acutely aware that Jolt was not doing so well against his opponent. Not being able to help as he had his own troubles, Bumblebee could only watch, from the peripheral of his vision, Jolt taking fatal hits from the con. Frustrated that he could not help his fellow Autobot and friend, he tried to disable Barricade in one swift move so that he could aid Jolt. But Barricade again foresaw his attack and blocked it effectively, thus frustrating the scout more.

"Worried about your little friend, bug?" goaded the con, "don't worry, he won't be around much longer. Runabout will be done with him soon and then it'll be your turn, if I'm not done with you by then that is."

Bumblebee knew he could take on Barricade on his own but he wasn't too sure about the two of them together. But he did not have to worry about that as Skyfire was able to get to them at that moment and help Jolt with Runabout. With mass on his end, dealing with Runabout was a simple task for the shuttle as he quite literally picked the con up and threw him several feet. Barricade took this as their queue to leave, signaling the other three cons to retreat over his comm before yelling out at Runabout, "Time to bail Bout, we've done our part!"

Bumblebee looked surprised at this, "What! What do you mean you've done your part? The White House is still standing," questioned Bumblebee. Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to say, he realized a little too late, since their objective was to stop the con from destroying it instead of promoting its destruction.

The con just smirked at him, "No little bot, we were just the distraction for the real force that's about to destroy your puny friends out in space. Surprised that I know your little Autobot buddies are in space trying to intercept our forces". Barricade just laughed harder at the stricken look he was being given, "You aren't the only ones with a strategist on your side bug. Seeing as you will soon be meeting your end, I'll let you in on our plan. Starscream plans on baiting you bots out and dealing with you in small groups. With our air superiority, you bots won't stand a chance at winning this, especially in space. Enjoy the last of your Autobot days."

The cons didn't wait a second more before transforming and racing out of the park, leaving the Autobots there in shock. It wasn't until the three heard the sounds of running engines that they realized the Decepticons had left and Optimus had found them. Optimus couldn't understand why the Decepticons had suddenly retreated when they surely had the upper hand, and the look his scout bore was not encouraging.

"What happened out there Bumblebee?" inquired Prime.

All he got was silence from the scout; "Prime, Barricade told us that we were just a distraction. They baited us from the beginning, separating our forces so they can take us out in small groups. They know about Prowl's group and are waiting for them", Skyfire responded in Bumblebee's stead.

The situation was clear, with this new information they had to warn Prowl's group before it was too late. "Prime to base, I need you to contact Prowl immediately and inform him to return at once. This was a setup to divide our forces; the cons are waiting to ambush them."

"Yes Sir," pausing while they tried to contact Prowl and his team, "Sir it seems we are being jammed, I'm not able to get through to Prowl or any members of his team".

The situation was grim and they knew it; Soundwave was the only logically conclusion behind the jamming, and their lone communications specialist was with Prowl. They knew they would not be able to contact them in time to warn them even if they found the jamming device.

"Try any known form of communications to get through to Blaster because chances are, he will know it and pick up the signal. We are on our way back to base, let Hoist know we have injured with us. Once we get back, I'll get a team together to set off after them. Prime out."


	6. Chapter 4

_Thank you for the review Lighting Prime =), it's nice to see someone actually bothers to review. Not much action here, its all unfortunately in the next chapter but I'm already working on that so it should be up in a couple of days._

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 4: The Ambush<span>**

Not many get the opportunity to see Earth from space, and those who do, are always left in awe at the sight of the planet. This was where Wheeljack found himself, watching the Earth from a distance away on the moon. Earth was very different from Cybertron; where one was an organic planet, the other was made of metal. Cybertron was primarily silver while the Earth had the shades of magnificent blue from its oceans, shades of green and brown from the lands and white from the clouds. Truly a site to behold and even without his enhanced vision, he could make the outline of the ISS in orbit around. The International Space Station serves as Earth's only orbital platform and is the site of research laboratories for many of Earth's nations; a symbol of their unity, something that walks a thin line. Belonging to a race of being who have been fighting a war for many vorns, he could only hope that the people of Earth got over their differences soon and worked together towards a common goal. They may not know about the Decepticons today, but one day they will and they will need to become one race of beings to defend their planet, "Let's just hope that day is far into the future," whispered Wheeljack to no one in particular.

"Pardon me? Didn't hear you there buddy," as always Ratchet was eavesdropping on him, what else was new.

"Do you always have to keep an audio on me?" asked the engineer. "Why shouldn't I? If I don't, who's going to know when you're up to some experiment that may blow up in your faceplates," retorted Ratchet.

"Now that you mention it Ratch, you know that experiments are the means to learning new things. I mean how do you learn something new if you're not willing to experiment with things right? It's like a 'packaged deal' as our human friends put it," countered Wheeljack.

"Does the package come with a free 'get yourself blown in the process' card?" replied the medic with a bored look.

"Well I guess I can't factor in the part where they don't always go the way I plan them to right", Wheeljack said with a smile. "I guess not old friend".

He could not fault the engineer for his personality to explore new ideas, after all he was the Autobot Chief Engineer for a reason, and a good scientist; and of course, whenever too many bots decided to get themselves blown to bits, a good substitute medic. The entirety of the war, Ratchet only ever had his apprentice First Aid and Wheeljack as help; Hoist would help out whenever he was on base but those visits were too far in between. But First Aid was gone, killed during the battle of the All Spark while trying to save a fellow Autobot. That particular Autobot was here today, but at the cost of his apprentice; this didn't bother Ratchet though because he wasn't the only one who lost someone close that cycle. He made a promise to himself then, that he would see that Autobot through the war with his very spark and he wouldn't let Aid's sacrifice go in vain.

"One day Jack, you'll get to play with your little scientist buddies, when this war is over," vowed Ratchet with a defiant look. Wheeljack could only give him a wistful smile before turning back towards the view he was admiring. Leaving Wheeljack to his scenery, Ratchet decided to check up on the others. Feeling a brush against his spark, he set off in search of a certain warrior who didn't know when to stay out of trouble.

* * *

><p><em>On the far side of the moon…<em>

"Starscream, I have spotted the Autobots. They are here as you predicted they would be and they are exactly where we want them," comm'd Acid Storm from his position.

"Excellent, now get everyone in position. Time's of essence and make sure no one screws up or it will be you who will pay the price," commanded the Decepticon Second in Command.

Sending his acknowledgement, he sent a message to Soundwave to have it relayed to the other Decepticons. The message read one line, 'we have a green light', an Earth phrase he picked up from his time on the planet which meant the plan was in motion; _The Autobots won't know what hit 'em_.

* * *

><p><em>At the Autobot Landing Site...<em>

Prowl had his sensors on high, scanning the area for Decepticon signatures but his scans picked up nothing. He set off to look for Ratchet as his scanners were modified and far superior to other Autobots, used primarily for medical purposes, or in such situations, to locate Cybertronian signatures. He found the medic with Sideswipe, chatting silently about something that Prowl was not concerned about it. From Sideswipes' subtle reactions, he knew that the warrior was waiting for a fight.

"Ratchet, have your scanners picked up the Decepticon?", Prowl asked, "No, my scans show up blanks, they should have been here long before us but they aren't".

"Something's wrong, it's way too quiet Prowl….they're up to something and we need to find out what," Sideswipe said forcefully.

"The kid's right, something's not right about this," Ironhide commented.

"Where are the others?" questioned Prowl, "Mirage is hiding away somewhere as usual, Windcharger and Blaster are checking something out over the comms while the Aerialbots are doing recon. Our resident engineer is off staring into space over there," concluded Ratchet while pointing in the direction of Wheeljack.

"Everything's set Prowl; Wheeljack's toy is hidden in that crater there. They won't see it and the hiding spot is perfect for Windcharger to use his magnetism against anything that comes too close," Ironhide said, pleased with the set up.

Prowl was about to respond but was cut short by Blaster running up to them, "Prowl, you need to hear this; I was getting something really weird over the comms through the static. It's very subtle; you'd almost miss it if you weren't paying attention."

"Let's hear it…"

They just heard static for a while, but on and off they would hear beeps. The sounds felt familiar to him so Prowl decided to keep listening, "I have heard this before," he commented.

"Yes so have I, it's what the humans call Morse Code; this was their first electronic language developed in the late 1830s. Today, it's really popular amongst covert operatives and the military," replied Blaster.

"Can you decipher it?" questioned Prowl, "Yea, I think so…let me at it for a few minutes."

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, on the NEST base…<em>

"Sir I have sent the message and it's on a continuous signal, hopefully they'll pick it up soon".

"Thank you," was Optimus' courteous reply.

Leaving communications, he headed for the Medical Wing in order to check up on his team's status. It was a ways from communications, but it gave him time to think the situation through. They were not having any success in locating the jamming device and it was becoming frustrating. He could not rely on the code that was sent, he needed to speak to his Second and make him aware of the danger.

Optimus reached his destination and walked through doors leading into the Medical Bay. Inside, he found Jolt deactivated on one of the many berths with Hoist working on his shoulder plating, "Hoist, may I get an update on the status of my team."

"Yes Sir, Jolt here is out of commission, he took a nasty beating from the cons and I have had to replace several of his systems and plating. There is still some more work to be done, nothing I can't handle without Ratchet. The Twins are fine, they just had a few dents here and there. Bumblebee is all fixed up but I would ask that he take it easy for the next couple of hours to let the repairs sink in; I have already sent the three back to their quarters," reported Hoist curtly.

"Thank you, keep me appraised on Jolt's condition", and with that, headed for the hanger. He had already set up another group of bots to head out to space. As he headed down to the Hanger Bay, he crossed paths with Bumblebee, "Optimus, I would like to accompany you on this mission," requested the scout.

"You just got released from Medical, it would be wise to sit this one out Bumblebee," requested Optimus.

"Sir, I can't sit around and do nothing while everyone's up there fighting. I want to help as much as I can. Hoist only said a couple of hours of rest, not days. I can rest up during the flight out to space since Skyfire's going with us."

Optimus took a moment to think upon this; knowing the scout would not let this go, he decided on letting him tag along, "Very well, you may accompany us."

* * *

><p><em>Outer Space<em>

"You guys picking up any con activity?"

"No. What's going on? We know they're here but our scanners don't show up with anything," said a very irritated Air Raid.

"Bolt, maybe we should head back to the landing site and regroup with the others. Without knowing what the cons have planned, we can't make counter measures or, even worse, we could be walking into a trap. And the chances of us surviving are slim if we are all separated."

Taking a moment to think upon Skydive's assessment, Silverbolt decided to follow his teammate's instincts. Skydive was rarely wrong about these types of things, being an aerial warfare tactician. If the Seeker was up to anything regarding Aerial Warfare, chances were that Skydive would see it in time to save them.

"Alright, let's head back and let Prowl know about this."

As the trio was about to turned around from their patrol route, their scanners picked up multiple con signatures; and they were headed straight for them.

"Bolt, multiple boogies just turned up on my scanners bearing from Sector M-5; they're dead ahead."

"Silverbolt to Prowl, we've detected Decepticons and are requesting back up at Sector M-5," but all he received was static. _This was a setup!_ He thought irately, "Air Raid the comms are being jammed, get back to the Landing Site and warn Prowl. Skydive, Thach Weave on my mark."

At Silverbolt's command the three broke their formation with Silverbolt and Skydive pulling the famous Thach Weave, a maneuver they learnt from the human pilots on base. Air Raid decided to pull a sharp J-turn and head back to where the rest of their team was. He just hoped he would get back in time to help his fellow Aerialbots out.


	7. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Dogfight**

"Prowl I just finished deciphering the message and it's not good at all. It's from Optimus saying that the attack on the White House was a dupe; the cons intended on separating our forces and worse of all, they know we're here. We just walked into a trap!" Blaster informed hurriedly.

"This is not good," Prowl whispered to himself before barking orders, "Ratchet, take Wheeljack and Windcharger to the device. Stay out of sight at all times, you will be relaying the information to us via the comms. Windcharger, make sure nothing get's close to your position."

Receiving acknowledgements from the bots, Prowl was about to give out orders to the rest when someone opened fire on their positions, "Take cover!"

"I got two cons north east of us, behind the rock formation," reported Ironhide before firing in that direction.

"Prowl, two more coming in from the south; heading straight for us. Where did they come from?" queried Sideswipe.

"They seem to have developed a new way to mask their signatures which is why we couldn't detect them. Might be some form of cloak added to their systems," explained Wheeljack over the comm.

"Action first folks, explanations later" stated Ironhide.

As Ratchet, Wheeljack and Windcharger got to the device, they immediately started on their assigned tasks, "Let's see if your device works Jack and hope it doesn't blow up in our faceplates."

"Have more faith Ratchet," exclaimed the engineer.

"Oh I have faith, just not in things I can't control," muttered the medic.

Glancing over the lip of the crater, Ratchet found most of the bots under fire. All the cons were aerial units and this put their team in somewhat of a disadvantage. He could see Ironhide and Prowl desperately trying to score some hits on the cons hiding behind the rocks but were being unsuccessful. He looked around but couldn't find Mirage anywhere and worst of all, Sideswipe; this had him worried as he knew the warrior tended to rush off into battle, without backup and that's gotten him in tight spots more times than he would have liked to count.

Just as he was about to contact the corvette, the two cons behind the rock face stopped firing momentarily. Looking in that direction, Ratchet saw the familiar blue coating of Mirage's armor and a flash of silver behind him, "Prowl, Ironhide, we got the two here covered. Take care of the ones in the air," comm'd Mirage.

"Good work you two, keep them busy as long as you can," commended Prowl.

Trying to aim at moving targets were a lot trickier than it looked and the two were having difficulty. Also their positions were not ideal for any sort of cover against air. They needed to find a better hiding spot, and fast. Looking around, the only suitable place he could find was the crater with Wheeljack's device but knew he couldn't go there because it would tip the cons off. Seeing another crater further away from them, he calculated the distance and time it would take them to reach. The odds were not favourable as they would be out in the open for too long but they didn't have a choice.

"Ironhide, there's another crater north west of the one we picked for the device. If we stay here, we will get picked off by the cons, but if we can get to that crater, we'll have a better chance of surviving," informed Prowl.

Ironhide thought upon the proposal for a few astroseconds before coming to the same conclusion as Prowl. Receiving a nod of acknowledgement form Ironhide, he comm'd Ratchet for cover fire. Once he got the go ahead from the medic, the two set off for their destination with Ratchet laying fire on the cons. Even still, the cons scored several hits on the two Autobots, Prowl taking the brunt of the damage as Ironhide had better armor than he did.

Ratchet noticed this and tried his best to aim for the cons' wings but it was difficult from his position and with moving targets. He knew that the two were vulnerable and it irked him that he was helpless. One of the cons blasted a hole right by Prowl's pedes, causing him to hit the ground hard. This gave the other flier the opening he needed to take Prowl out, soaring around for another pass at the downed bot.

"Ironhide, Prowl's down and the con's coming around for another pass. He needs to get out of there NOW!" shouted Ratchet over the comm. Mirage and Sideswipe heard this and paused in their combat against the cons, which ended as a mistake on their part as both cons used their temporary distraction to score blows on their opponents. Grunting at the force of the blow, Mirage was able to block the next one before trying to engage his invisibility circuits to try and help Prowl.

At the same time, Ironhide turned around to fire at the cons and proceed towards Prowl but to no avail as the second con fired at him, effectively pinning him and not letting him advance to his fellow Autobot. The bots could only watch as the other con came in range of Prowl, with the intent to take out the Autobot Second. Right then, heat seeking missiles bared down on the con as he was hit from behind, careening him away from Prowl. Unsure of what just happened, Prowl looked up to see Air Raid firing away at the con. Grateful for the Aerialbot's timing, he got up to make his way to Ironhide but halted as the other flier opened fire at him. With the option of making it to the crater slim, he decided instead to head for the one Ratchet, Wheeljack and Windcharger was occupying.

"Thank you for the support Air Raid," comm'd Prowl as he reached Ratchet, "Let me look," Ratchet requested.

Shaking his helm Prowl just replied that it was not a good time before the comm came alive with chatter, "Bolt and Dive need help in Sector M-5, there's three more cons there. It's the Coneheads actually and I dunno how long the two will be able to keep them occupied."

"Prowl we need to help them, I'm going to go and see if I can help them out," stated Windcharger while getting ready to move out.

"How can we help them when we can't even help ourselves," yelled Ratchet to knock some sense into the younger bot, "You're not going anywhere!"

"We need to do something!" cried Windcharger back.

"I know Windcharger, I know," Prowl could only state.

* * *

><p><em>Moon's Orbit<em>

Soundwave's scanners picked up Skyfire in Earth's outer atmosphere and immediately he announced their presence to Starscream, "Starscream, the second Autobot group is here."

"Alright cloak the device and leave it for them to find. I want them to waste as much time as possible looking for the jammer. Meet me at Acid Storms co-ordinates," ordered Starscream.

"Affirmative!"

Signaling the cloak on the jamming device, Soundwave headed for Acid Storm's position in order provide back-up. He met up with Starscream on the way and the two set off for the Autobots. The entirety of the flight, Starscream kept throwing orders at the cons which impressed him. He would never have believed the fact that Starscream was a strategist if it were not for what he was experiencing right now. Not only this but during their planning sessions, Starscream had developed a way to cloak their signatures which turned the tide in their favour. Long gone was the whiny, scheming Second and instead replaced by a calm, collected leader.

"We're here Soundwave, help Acid Storm and Stormcloud. I'll assist Sunstorm and Slipstream."

"Yes Starscream."

* * *

><p><em>Sector M-5<em>

The two Aerialbots fought hard with the Coneheads, weaving through intricate maneuvers trying to keep the Coneheads from scoring hits. But it's hard to stay scratch free when you're outnumbered and so they suffered some damage which was making it increasingly difficult to keep the Coneheads at bay. Right now, Silverbolt was being chased by Thrust and, to make matters worse, Ramjet was on a collision course with him. He could not shake the cons off and Ramjet was determined to ram him. Skydive had his own problems in the form of Dirge, with the two exchanging rapid fire and playing an intricate game of cat and mouse. Unfortunately for Dirge, he ended up being the mouse too often, but was able to get back into the position of the cat within mere minutes. It was a never ending cycle with the two, and every time Silverbolt tried to help him, Thrust would cut him off.

"We can't keep going on like this Bolt, sooner or later one of us is going to go out of commission. Personally I rather it be the cons than us but I don't see how we can win this."

He knew this but the cons were making it impossible for them to head back to the rest of the team. Looking down to the surface of the moon, Silverbolt dreaded being hit and falling. At this height he wouldn't survive if he got hit and he tried his best not to look but his fear of heights wouldn't let him ignore the danger. It was then, as he was staring at the surface of the moon, that an idea struck him. They might not have been able to fly back to their teammates from high altitude, but nothing was stopping them from flying ground level to their destination. Flying close to the ground was an art and difficult to master but with their time on Earth, they had learned to maneuver through ravines and trenches.

"Skydive, I have an idea. What do you think about using the surface of the moon as cover?" said Silverbolt.

"I think you've misplaced some bolts!"

"I'm serious! Here me out, if we fly low enough we can use the surface to our advantage. The Coneheads don't seem to have visited Earth so I bet they won't be as maneuverable as we will with uneven ground. And we would have cover against their weapon fire."

It took Skydive a mere astrosecond to see the reasoning before he exclaimed, "Let's roll!"

The two sped up and then climbed vertically up with the cons right behind them. Cutting their acceleration, they kept climbing until both lost velocity allowing the two into a backwards freefall. Once their noses were leveled from the fall, they ignited their afterburners and dived vertically down, towards the surface of the moon. Their actions put the cons off balance because they didn't expect the bots to freefall and had to scramble out of the way in order to avoid a collision with them. Ramjet was tempted to hit one of them but he preferred being the one doing the ramming instead of the one being rammed into.

Diving down to about 200 feet was a tricky maneuver and if not done right, would result in a crash, but for the Aerialbots, this sort of thing was an everyday occurrence since arriving at Earth. Barrel rolling through their dive, the two leveled off exactly at 200 feet and ended their maneuver in a rolling scissor before banking off in separate directions. The stunt they pulled was most commonly known as a Tailslide and was a favourite amongst the combat pilots of Earth. The maneuver is much more effective within the atmosphere of Earth as the loss of momentum is higher but it worked out well for the two Aerialbots with some improvising.

"You two follow the leader, I'll take the archive worm," ordered Thrust and the three split up after their respective targets.

Picking up Ramjet and Dirge on his scanners, Silverbolt decided to weave through the plentiful craters and trenches, effectively keeping Ramjet and Dirge from advancing. As predicted, the two were not able to maneuver through as easily as the larger jet, thus frustrating them. Dirge slowed down further due to fear of crashing into the rock face as he was not able to control his turns at such high velocity. While Ramjet, seeing this, decided to attack from a higher altitude instead of playing chase with the bot. This also proved to be ineffective as Silverbolt used the surface as a shield against Ramjet's weapons; heat seeking missiles could not avoid anything in its path to its target, and so, turned out to be useless in this situation.

Thrust was also not having any luck on his end as he encountered the same situation with Skydive; only difference was that Skydive could effectively mimic any of his maneuvers while he could not do the same. Skydive used every trick he learned from his Earth friends; from J-turns to Cobra turns to Lag displacement rolls, each performed perfectly as if he learned the maneuvers only the day before. They would be at the landing site in no time at the rate they were going and the Coneheads would be far, far behind them.

"Starscream, we have a problem! The other two Aerialbots are heading in your direction. They pulled some stupid stunt and are now flying at ground level. We can't keep up with them!" shrieked Ramjet over the comms.

"You fool! Just get them from a higher altitude," yelled the Decepticon Second.

"We can't, they keep hiding being things every time our weapons get in range!"

"Can't you three do anything right! Must I do everything myself!"

"Well if you're such a genius, why don't you take care of them," yelled Thrust in return, "Because I'm the Decepticon Second in Command, not you; now do as I say!"

The Aerialbots made a lot of head way with their new plan and were almost at the location where the rest of the Autobots were. Still being chased by the Coneheads, the two were losing their cover as the craters and hills were growing shorter in numbers. The two decided to meet up, spiraling through a scissor before leveling off. The three cons were gaining on them and would be on top of them within seconds. Even with all their effort, they were still not going to make it back to the others.


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Sacrifice**

The second team of Autobots was restless on their way to space. The preparations had taken longer than Optimus had foreseen and even with the extra time, they still were not able to locate the jamming device. The cons had really out done themselves this time, usually they never had a solid plan going for them but now they did. The worst part of it all was that Starscream was the mastermind this time and proving to be a worthy adversary.

"Optimus my scanners aren't picking up anything in Earth's orbit," reported Skyfire.

"It must be shielded just like the con's signatures were when we fought them."

"Maybe we should just forget the jamming device all together?" said Bumblebee.

At that statement, all the bots turned to give baffled stares at the yellow scout, so he decided to give his reasoning, "What if, and it's a big if but what if…what if this is what Starscream wants? What if this is all just a distraction to keep us from getting to Prowl in time and buys them time."

Thinking on Bumblebee's reasoning, Optimus concluded that he had a valid point, "You made a good point," replied Optimus thoughtfully, "Alright, let's do one more detailed sweep and then head out to Prowl's last known position," ordered the Prime.

Everyone went about their current tasks at Optimus' command; Bumblebee decided to move to a suitable corner and finish his message to Sam. Both he and his charge had been busy in their own way these last few months; with Sam's graduation coming up and the increase in Decepticon activity recently, the two had not been able to meet much. The scout realized that he had not contacted Sam to appraise him of the situation and what may happen; that there was a chance the scout would not be returning this time. So he opted on sending a message to Sam now, and he could only hope that the boy receives it through the jamming signal. The message was short and to the point, he mentioned briefly the encounter in Washington and the upcoming encountered that they would be walking into blind. After a few minutes of contemplating how to end the message, Bumblebee chose a simple _take care_ before signing the message and sending it.

* * *

><p><em>On Earth<em>

A cell phone rang in the early rays of dawn, waking the owner up from his slumber. Irritated for being disturbed so early in the morning, the owner opted to turn the phone off without looking at the message or the sender of said message, _I'll look into it at a not so ungodly hour_, and with that last thought, decided to go back to sleep.

Little did he know that the message was from someone he considered an important part of his life and a friend he had not seen in a long while. Before falling asleep, he had the distinct feeling that he was going to regret his decision when the time came.

* * *

><p><em>Autobot Landing Site<em>

Air Raid tried his best to cover his friends but it was a difficult task when one's being chased by a crazy con. Said con, aka Sunstorm, was keeping his attention away from the rest and solely concentrated on himself. Slipstream, on the other hand, was keeping Prowl occupied and unfortunately had the upper hand.

"Wheeljack what is the status of your device?" requested Prowl.

"I'm working as fast as I can. I'm sorry, I wasn't prepared for a surprise attack." replied Wheeljack hurriedly.

At that moment, someone hopped into their hiding spot, "What's cooking good-looking?" Sidewipes said cheerfully.

Initially, while he was making his way over to the crater, Sidewipes was searching for a good entrance line but at the bemused stares he received from the others coupled with Ratchet's glare, he figured that was not the smartest thing to say, "You guys are always so serious," grumbled the silver warrior.

"Why are you here? And what happened to the con you were fighting?," Ratchet practically yelled out.

"What con?" asked Sideswipe thoughtfully. But at the murderous look he received from Ratchet, he hurriedly replied with a grin, "OH that con! You mean the one fighting Ironhide right now."

If they weren't in the middle of battle, Sideswipe would have rolled over laughing at look on the their faceplates and the speed at which the two turned around to look over at the spot Ironhide was "supposedly" at just astroseconds ago. Not finding him there, they looked over by the rock face where the two cons were originally hiding and indubitably, Ironhide was there firing away at the con like a maniac. The two could only shake their helms at the antics of their weapons specialist.

"So with Hide eating up all the fun there, I thought I'd take care of your little con buddy here," and with that, Sideswipe rush out of their hiding spot without waiting for a reply from the others. He used his speed and momentum to leap onto Slipstream as he came in for another pass. Not expecting this, the con dropped several altitudes from the added weight before leveling off.

"Get off me Autobot!" growled the con.

"Make me!" taunted Sideswipe.

With a roar, the con barrel rolled trying to throw the silver bot off him but to no avail. That was when Sideswipe realized that his attack options were limited as he would be spending most of the time trying to hang on to the con in order to not fall off. So maybe he really didn't think his plan through since it always worked in the past, but in the past he always had a partner to back him up. He didn't this time, or that's what he thought before deftly aimed weapons fire rained down on them, all of which avoided him. Looking over in the direction of said weapons fire, he saw Prowl and Ratchet with their sights set on Slipstream. Grateful that even without his Twin he still had allies he could rely on, he threw a smirk their way before attacking Slipstream with his blades. He pierced one of his blades next to the canopy and slashed downwards as he dug in further. This emitted a howl from Slipstream before the con started climbing to try and throw him off.

His blade helped him secure a hold on the con but it was slipping and if the con didn't level off, he would surely fall. It was then that weapons fire once again rained down on the two, except this time, he was the target instead of the con. He took several hits before he lost his hold on the con and fell towards the surface. As this happened, he looked towards the direction of his attacker and saw that it was Starscream. Growling in annoyance at the fact that he was about to be taken out by him of all cons, he could only wait for the inevitable fate that awaited him. But it would seem that fate had other ideas for him as Air Raid swooped in under him at the last second and caught him before he hit the surface.

"Thanks for the save there Raid."

"Anytime but try to warn me next time you pull a stunt like that. I'd rather not hear Ratchet yelling over the comms about one dense, irresponsible warrior," replied the Aerialbot.

Chuckling at this, Sideswipe hopped off as they flew over the crater where the device was. As he landed, he immediately regretted his decision to join them as he was faced with a fuming medic and a disgruntled tactician. "Miss me mechs," Sideswipe said in an attempt to defuse the storm he knew was coming.

"Mind telling me what that stunt right now was about," Ratchet all but bellowed. This was the Hatchet's way of caring and the warrior was used to being yelled at for his stunts. So he calmly grinned and replied, "Skills!" before diving behind Wheeljack for protection.

"Hey, where's Windcharger?" he suddenly asked, trying to remove their focus off him while looking around for the small warrior.

* * *

><p><em>Several miles away from the Autobot Landing Site<em>

Silverbolt and Skydive were not making any progress in taking down the cons, neither were they gaining on the rest of their team. The cons were on top of them again and hindering them from joining the rest of the team. Silverbolt had taken the brunt of their attacks and was gradually slowing down with the damage. Skydive noticed this and tried his best to turn the cons attention to him but was not successful. Silverbolt was a bigger target, hence it was easier to score hits on him and the cons were not going to stop until he went down.

"We aren't going to make it Bolt," a frantic Skydive yelled.

"No we won't but you will," replied an uncharacteristically calm Silverbolt.

"What!" exclaimed Skydive, "You heard me; you are going back on your own. I'm going to make sure these three do not follow."

"That's suicide Silverbolt, you'll never be able to handle all three of them together," reasoned Skydive.

"I don't plan on it, I'm merely going to buy you the time needed to get away," Silverbolt explained but was cut off by his fellow Aerialbot, "No we go back together or we don't, I'm not leaving you behind!" cried Skydive desperately.

"You know as well as I do that this is the only way, one of us has to get back and that one is you."

"No, I'll stay and keep them off you while you pull ahead and then I'll catch up to you."

Mentally shaking his helm, Silverbolt could not bear to hear the desperation in Skydive's voice, "You are faster than me, you will cover more distance in the time I buy you than both of us would together. I know you don't like this but there is no other alternative."

"There has to be, we are the good guys remember. Good is supposed to prevail over Evil, isn't that the saying on Earth!"

"It will prevail but sacrifices must be made in order for that to happen," Silverbolt said with a small smile. He would do his duty as an Autobot and leader of the Aerialbots. He may have not been there for Slingshot and Fireflight when they needed him but he would be damned before he let his remaining Aerialbots offline while he had a chance to do something. As their leader, he would make the sacrifice and it just so happened to be the most logically one in this situation.

"On my mark we'll break, I will keep them occupied as long as I can. I want you to go to the rest, they have to be in trouble since Air Raid didn't come back. They will need your aid to help defend till Optimus can arrive," ordered Silverbolt knowing that this may be his last. "I'm sorry for doing this to you but we are still a team Dive, even if it's just you and Raid left, the Aerialbots will live on", Silverbolt said fondly.

"I can't Bolt, I can't do this," Skydive tried again to reason with his leader. "Yes you can…have more faith in yourself."

The outcome was the inevitable, no matter what he said Silverbolt would not concede. All he could do now was honor the sacrifice Silverbolt would be making for their cause, for him. With a heavy spark, Skydive signaled Silverbolt that he was ready; Silverbolt pulled up into a vertical 180 degree turn and headed on a collision course with the middle con, forcing the three cons to break formation. The last thing Skydive saw as he made his escape was the Aerialbot leader pulling intricate evasive maneuvers, ones that should have not been possible for one his size, while firing on each of the cons in succession making sure none of them followed Skydive.


	9. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The Device**

With Starscream and Soundwave added to the mix, the odds were not favourable for the bots. Starscream wasn't just the Air Commander by name, he truly was one of Cybertron's finest Aerial Commanders the war had ever seen. Combined with his knowledge of science and in the absence of Megatron, he made a formidable opponent. Each bot had their own problems and the cons had the upper hand.

"Wheeljack, progress?" requested Prowl while firing at Soundwave.

"I'm done, the device is initializing now," replied the engineer.

Nodding towards the engineer, Prowl turned his attention back to the con he was exchanging fire with. He needed to keep them occupied as long as Wheeljack needed, and also, to make sure that none of them saw the device. His comm came to life at that moment, and he couldn't be happier to hear the voice on the other side, "Optimus Prime to Prowl, do you read me?"

"I read you clearly Optimus, I take it the jamming device was found," Prowl said with a hint of a smile.

"Yes it was and we are making our way to you now, how is your team holding up?"

"We have been able to hold our own till now but Starscream and Soundwave just showed up, which means their back-up is on the way so we are going to need some also. Silverbolt and Skydive are facing off the Coneheads on their own, they are going to need some help," reported Prowl.

"We will be there shortly, just hold out till then. Prime out."

Starscream noticed the instance the jamming field went down and knew the bots were talking over their comms to the second team. It was then that he noticed something odd about the crater the Autobot Second was hiding in with his friends. Wanting to take a closer look, he decided on doing a quick fly-by but masking it in the form of an attack, "Slipstream cover me," he ordered before taking off.

Setting his sights on the medic, Starscream fired several shots while flying over the crater to get a look at what the bots were hiding. Once he was in full view of the interior of the crater, he got a good look at a device and the Autobot engineer. He immediately knew that combination was going to be detrimental to them and comm'd the rest, "How long has that device been with the bots!"

"What device?" queried Acid Storm.

"The one in the crater where their Second in Command is hiding in you fools, how long has it been there?" yelled Starscream impatiently while scanning the device.

"Oh that one, it's been there since we got here. It's nothing, just a pile of scrap," said Slipstream rather nonchalantly.

Starscream couldn't believe the bunch of morons he had with him as he turned around and headed back to Soundwave, "You fool! The Autobot engineer is here which means that device is some new contraption he made to use against us." Recalling the device from his memory file, Starscream recognized some of the components and tried his best to recall what they did once put together. He knew that device would ruin his plans and needed to improvise. As he was about to comm Soundwave to request assistance with destroying the device, weapons fire rained down around him. Turning to his right, he found the small Autobot, Windcharger, firing at him. He easily maneuvered around and fired on the bot's position, effectively stopping him.

"Uh guys, little help over here," requested Windcharger.

"I got you little buddy," Ironhide said decking Stormcloud in the faceplates before turning and firing at Starscream. The con avoided his fire as best as he could before joining Soundwave. Thinking hard on what to do about the device, Starscream only knew one thing for sure; they couldn't fire directly at it because of the volatile power source it was using. His scan showed the device had power crystals imbedded within it, one he had seen before on one of the many worlds he had visited. How the engineer got his servos on them, he could only guess. Deciding that he needed to get close and disable the device, he shared his plan of action with Soundwave.

Receiving a nod from the communications specialist, Starscream comm'd Slipstream letting him know of their plan and asked for cover fire once more before the two made their way towards the crater the bots were hiding in. Little did they know that Megatron was in the vicinity, watching from afar, waiting for the opportunity to strike at Prime when he shows up. He snorted at his Second's plan to disable the device; if it were him, he would have just destroyed it and the bots with it. But no, he would wait till the moment Starscream's plan failed so he could throw the defeat in his faceplates. He only cared about one thing, and that was offlining Prime; nothing else mattered to him.

"Astrotrain to Starscream, we are here," comm'd the shuttle.

"Good work now split up and take on the Autobots. Leave the ones over by us alone; Soundwave and I will take care of them," ordered Starscream.

"The other bots are not far behind us, they'll be here soon. Astrotrain out."

"Great, now we have to deal with more Auto-brats," Starscream muttered to no one in particular, while continuing on their way to the device.

Prowl saw the new cons drop out of Astrotrain and quickly calculated their odds, which he already knew were not good. He grimaced at the numbers even though he knew they would be bad, "Right, we are in trouble now," he said to the other bots with him.

"Let me guess, the odds are not in our favour," Ratchet stated sarcastically, "What else is new?"

"All we need now is Megatron to complete this party," Sideswipe said cheerfully.

"How can you be so fragging happy at a time like this," Ratchet yelled at the warrior.

"Now's not the time, we need to figure out a new plan. We will not be able to take on the new cons by ourselves so we need to figure something out while Optimus gets here," uttered Prowl while weapons fire rained down on them.

"Uh hate to interrupt you Prowl but where did Starscream and Soundwave go?" queried Wheeljack.

Prowl turned around to where he had last seen the Decepticon Air Commander and found the area empty, _Not again_, he thought, _This is not good, where did the two go?_ thought Prowl.

"Look out", Sideswipe shouted but the warning came too late as something rammed into Prowl, throwing him several feet away along with his attacker. Rolling onto his pedes, he looked up to see Starscream in front of him, "I'm going to enjoy this Autobot," stated the seeker before attacking Prowl. As Starscream surged forward, Prowl caught a glimpse of the others and saw Soundwave attacking Sideswipe while Ratchet tried to cover Wheeljack from Slipstream's fire.

"Come to get your aft handed to you like your loyal little minions Soundwave," taunted Sideswipe. Soundwave did not take the bait though and calmly waited for the other to attack. Losing his patience at waiting for the con to attack, Sideswipe decided to make the first move. The two were soon locked in combat, completely ignoring everything around them as they tried to get the upper hand on the other.

As the four fought, Ratchet was firing back at Slipstream while looking around for the rest of the team. He found most bots pinned down and outnumbered with the additional cons. He was about to comm Ironhide when Prowl came flying onto the ground next to him, landing on his doorwings. Startled only slightly, Ratchet turned around and fired blindly at Starscream, but the con avoided his fire and was on him within seconds. As Starscream was about to hit Ratchet, Wheeljack rammed into Starscream, effectively throwing him off the medic. But their victory was short lived as Soundwave rounded on them striking the engineer hard in the chestplates, throwing him several feet away from the crater, and knocking him out in the process. Soundwave was about to do the same to Ratchet when Sideswipe jumped him, effectively bringing his focus back to their initial dual. Slipstream chose to exploit the moment and fired Sideswipe, scoring a few hits but also hitting Soundwave in the process and almost singeing the device.

"You fool, watch where you fire that thing!" exclaimed Starscream over the comms.

"Not my fault things are in my way," Slipstream said indifferently.

Starscream was about to utter more profanities, when Slipstream was suddenly picked up and thrown in his direction. He stopped his advance on Prowl in order to avoid colliding with Slipstream before looking over at who the attacker was. Seeing Optimus Prime standing where Slipstream was only moments ago, Starscream knew this time, his plans were surely going to fall through. Prowl, on the other hand, was grateful to see Optimus since that meant the cavalry had arrived. Optimus glared at the Air Commander before making his way towards Starscream; as he reached the lip of the crater, he was suddenly attacked from the rear. Halting in his steps and protecting his helm from being hit, he turned around to see the Decepticon Leader firing at him.

"Priiiiiiiime," yelled Megatron as he kept firing at the Autobot leader in flight mode.

"Megatron," Optimus and Starscream said simultaneously. Starscream was a little grateful that he was saved from being turned into scrap by Megatron but that soon changed into fear when he noticed that the warlord was firing blindly at anything in the direction of Prime and the device was in the line of fire.

"Megatron stop! You'll hit the device if you don't stop firing," Starscream yelled frantically.

"Pathetic fool, I don't care if I hit it. Hitting it just means I'll take more of you out," laughed the warlord manically. He purposely targeted the device then, and fired at it just to spite his Second, "No….Megatron!"

Wheeljack onlined at that moment and saw everything happening in slow motion. He saw blaster fire hit the fusion core of the device, the power crystals overheating and exploding one by one creating a field around the crater. He didn't know the effects the reaction would have on the space time continuum as the device was fully charged when it was hit. Optimus moved away from the crater by instinct and found himself by Wheeljack, both covering their optics from the bright light of the chain reaction. All the bots and cons momentarily dropped what they were doing to look for the origin of the sudden light that appeared. As soon as they recognized the source, each one went for cover against the imminent explosion they knew was coming.

Within the confines of the crater, Starscream on instinct covered both Prowl and Ratchet, his mortal enemies, from the blast he knew was about to come. Soundwave and Sideswipe hit the ground beside them, trying their best to crawl as far away from the device as possible. But they didn't have the time needed to get away and could only watch as the field created from the chain reaction expanded before compressing in on itself and exploding in a brilliant gold and blue radiance. The last thing the five saw was the field enveloping them followed by darkness.

The device exploded in a million tiny pieces, the resulting shockwave throwing everyone within a ten mile radius around the area on their afts. The cons in the air were not able to find cover fast enough and were knocked several miles away by the shockwave, sustaining a moderate amount of damage.

Skydive had just reached the site when he was hit by the tail end of the shockwave. Fearing the worst, he raced over to the others, dreading what he would find. Once he pinpointed the origin of the shockwave, he flew over to the spot only to find a heavily blackened crater with a massive hole in the centre. Transforming to his bi-pedal mode while hovering a few feet off the surface, he scanned the area for his fellow Autobots, finding them scattered amongst the Decepticons. He was able to locate most of the team, plus a few more from reinforcements he guessed, except Air Raid, Prowl, Ratchet and Sideswipe. Concerned for his fellow Aerialbot, he called out to his brother over their bond.

::Raid where are you?::

::Behind you::, hearing this he turned around to see Air Raid appear from another crater. Skydive sighed in relief, but his momentary break was cut short by one question.

::Where's Silverbolt Dive?::

Before he could respond, they were cut off by Megatron, "Decepticons, retreat!" and with that, all the Decepticons scrambled to head back to the Nemesis.

"We'll finish this later Prime," sneered the warlord before transforming and retreating.

Usually Optimus would have a parting remark for the Warlord but today, he had nothing to say. All he thought about was the fact that he had just lost three of his closest friends and comrades. With the loss of Jazz, Optimus always felt that he had Prowl to rely on for taking care of things but now he had lost them both. He continuously stared at the spot that had been occupied by the device and his three fellow Autobots mere seconds ago, and could not fathom why this had happened. _Why!_ he thought fiercely _How could this have happened?_ He vaguely heard Ironhide over the comm, but couldn't get himself to focus on what was being said.

Every Autobot present could see the sheer look of grief, sadness and loss on their leader's faceplates. Some bots could only see the sadness due to the loss of one of their best tactician and medic, but others, such as Bumblebee, knew the sadness went beyond just what the faction had lost. Their circle of friendship extended far beyond duty and the cause, they were more than just comrades and leaders. Bumblebee walked up to his leader, placing his servo on Optimus' shoulder plating, "Optimus…" Bumblebee called out sorrowfully.

"I should have never wasted time looking for the jamming device. If I hadn't wasted all that time looking for the jammer, Prowl, Ratchet and Sideswipe would still be here. It's all my fault," whispered a broken Prime.

"This isn't your fault Optimus," Wheeljack stated defiantly, "Nothing that happened today is anyone's fault, we all decided on the course of action to take and we all did our very best; you did your best."

"It's not enough, my best is not enough," responded Optimus before stepping forwards towards the crater.

Before Wheeljack could say another word, Bumblebee shook his helm at the engineer indicating to let the subject go. With a dejected look, Wheeljack kept quiet, trusting in the scout's judgment.

Skydive saw the exchange between the three and immediately rounded on Air Raid with questions, ::What happened? Who was in the crater? Why does Optimus look so sad?::

::I'm uh…I'm not really sure what happened. I was chasing Sunstorm when all of a sudden there was this bright light and it was coming from the crater. Something inside me kept telling me to find cover and so I did. That was when the shockwave hit me but I was lucky because I was only a few meters off the ground. That crater was where Wheeljack's device was at and last time I checked Prowl, Ratchet, Sideswipe and Wheeljack were the only ones near the device. The device must have exploded but how I don't know.::

Once Air Raid finished, Skydive realized the source of Optimus' sadness, ::They're gone then. Prowl, Ratchet and Sideswipe::, looking around he continued, ::They were caught in the explosion::.

Grasping at what Skydive just said and realizing what he himself had just said to Skydive, Air Raid was left stunned as he became conscious of the fact that the three bots were not amongst them. Without realizing it, he had transformed and flown over to the crater, landing in the centre of it. Looking around, he tried to find something to show that it wasn't true, he didn't want to believe it was true; _this isn't real!_

"Unfortunately, it is Air Raid," Optimus said as he walked up to the Aerialbot. He hadn't realized he had voiced his thoughts out loud and instantly tried to get a hold of his emotions. It would not do any good to go hysterical over something he knew he didn't have control over. By now, all the bots had gathered around the crater, looking for instructions from their leader.

"If anyone can hear me, this is Silverbolt. I'm damaged and require assistance," the bots heard over the comm.

"Silverbolt, Optimus here, what is your location?" requested the Prime.

As Silverbolt gave the co-ordinates, Optimus sent Skyfire to retrieve him with Air Raid and Skydive as backup. Optimus knew they had to get back to base in order to tend to the injured. There would be time later to mourn for their loss, but right now he had to get the rest of them back to base. Once Skyfire returned with Silverbolt, Optimus gave the command to head back and the bots made their way back to base dejectedly.


	10. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Miracles Happen**

A servo twitched within the darkness as internal components re-initialized and programming came online. The twitch was followed by the glow of a bright blue visor onlining; switching over to night vision, the bot looked around at the confines of the space. The room was small, filled with medical equipment and supplies, mystifying the bot. He could not understand what he was doing here, but then again, he also could not recall what had happened to put him in stasis. Sitting up, the bot gingerly put his pedes on the ground, testing his balance before venturing towards the door. He took slow, steady steps at first before he felt confident that he would not fall flat on his faceplates, _Dat be crampin' ma style an' I can't be havin' dat_.

Running his servo over the key pad, he walked into what looked to be a brightly light medbay. Looking around, he figured he'd go find Ratchet and ask him what had happened to him. As he entered what looked to be Ratchet's office, he came upon Hoist instead of Ratchet. The medbot was thoroughly engrossed in a datapad and failed to notice the bot. The saboteur knocked on the door to get the medic's attention while greeting him, "Heya Hoist, what's crackin?"

The reaction the Special Ops bot received was no less than hilarious. Surprised and shocked at hearing a dead mech's voice, Hoist's momentary jump resulted in the datapad slipping from his hold and falling noisily onto the wide desk. His reading now forgotten, he stared with wide optics at the Autobot Third in Command, before sputtering in his greeting "J-Ja-Ja-Jazz!"

"Ya seem like ya seein' a ghost?" said the smiling saboterur.

"May be I am," whispered Hoist before resetting his optics just to make sure his systems weren't glitching. _Nope still here. I think I've finally lost it!_

"What's dat? Didn't here you there buddy, by the way how's Ratchet been treatin ya?" Jazz asked rather calmly while he sauntered in, taking a seat at the desk.

"This can't be real, you're not supposed to be here," Hoist stated unsurely.

"Watcha mean by dat. Course I can," Jazz said, "where else would I be at?" he asked then curiously, looking around before picking up the forgotten datapad and scanning through it.

"No that's not what I meant. You're…you're dead!" exclaimed the medic while pointing at the mech.

Jazz paused what he was doing before looking up at the medic, "Dead? How'd ya figure that, can't be dead an' talkin to ya at the same time? An' what's with stuffin' me in a supply closet, dat's just wrong. Ima have words with Ratchet bout dat."

Hoist carefully rounded the table as Jazz went back to reading the datapad. Afraid that Jazz was a figment of his imagination, he suspiciously circled the bot while running scans on him. His readings all indicated a fully functional mech but he couldn't understand how this was possible. Dead mechs don't come back from the well and waltz into the office, it had to be a trick of some sort.

"Yer making meh nervous Hoist, what's the matter wit'cha mech?" Jazz asked bewildered at the reaction he was getting from the medic bot. _What's goin on?_

"I'm sorry but…it's just…I mean…your…this is all…I-I," stuttered the medic.

"Well out with it," said Jazz a little impatiently.

"You died Jazz. Six Earth years ago, Megatron tore you in half and there was nothing Ratchet could do to save you."

Shocked at what the medic said, Jazz was silent while processing the information, "I…died," whispered the saboteur.

"Yes Jazz, at Mission City here on Earth. You died protecting the humans from Megatron. Which is why I don't understand how this is at all possible."

"So then...," the saboteur trailed off as he pointed towards the room he was kept in. Hoist understood his unspoken question and responded, "Ratchet didn't want to let you go, he repaired you in hopes that maybe one day, something could be done. He blamed himself for not being able to save you and I guess he didn't want to believe you were gone."

_If it really is Jazz then maybe this is the second chance Ratchet has been hoping for!_ thought Hoist as he walked over to the supply room and found the only berth in there empty. Smiling, he made his way back to the saboteur, excited to talk to him and inform him of everything that had transpired in his absence.

"It's really good to see you Jazz, you have been dearly missed," Hoist said as he walked back into Ratchet's office.

"I dunno whatta say, I don't remember much cept dat we came lookin' fer the All Spark an' Optimus wanted to protect the boy, Sam from da cons cause he knew where the cube was."

"No worries, it'll all come back to you in due time. Mind if I get some scans done on you?" asked Hoist.

"Sure thing," said Jazz as he put the datapad down on the table and stood to follow the medic out.

Hoist ushered the saboteur onto one of the nearby berths before going about his business, making sure to check for any anomalies. Jazz patiently sat through it as he thought over their conversation. He wondered how his friends were, most particularly Prowl, and what their reaction would be to his miraculous resurrection. Still, he was eager to ask Hoist if the tactician made it to Earth safe, and if so, he wanted to find him. After several minutes, Hoist noticed Jazz fidgeting and quickly finished his scans, "All done," he said.

"Thanks," Jazz replied with a smile before hopping off, "So who else's here?"

"There's a few of us here. Actually there are more Decepticons than Autobots in this system but most of the main command group is here, including Prowl," Hoist stated with a smile knowing Jazz wanted to know that one detail above all. Hearing that Prowl made it to Earth brought a grin out of the saboteur and he couldn't wait to find his friend.

"Where's Prowler?" asked Jazz enthusiastically.

"He's off base with Optimus at the moment, fighting the Decepticons. Actually I had just finished repairing Jolt before you found me in Ratchet's office."

Whatever Jazz's response was, it was interrupted by a comm hail, "Operations to Medical".

"Sorry," the medic apologized to the saboteur before answering, "Hoist here".

"Optimus' team is back and they have some injured. They are coming into Hanger Bay Delta right now," Red Alert advised.

"I'll be there shortly," Hoist responded before gesturing towards Jazz to go with him.

On their way, Jazz inspected the base thoroughly; the base was unfamiliar to him and like any place he was not familiarized with, he treated it as a spy would. He made note of every corner, object, room, even the people he walked by. He did not recognize anyone; then again, he had not met any humans other than Sam, or at the least, he could not recall anyone other than the boy. He was brought out of his observations as Hoist announced they had reached their destination. Entering the bay, they were just in time to witness Skyfire touch down outside the bay doors alongside Air Raid and Skydive. As the two walked towards the bay's exit doors, Jazz decided to stop in the shadows of the bay doors and observe everyone for a while.

Optimus Prime was the first to step off Skyfire and Jazz noted the difference in his leader's appearance since the last time he had seen him. Prime looked more worn out than he had ever seen his leader appear, since joining his command team. Jazz could only presume that the last six years on Earth had taken more of a toll on their leader than any vorn ever had. He knew it could only be death, whether of friends or other sentient beings, that would bring his leader disposition down to this extent and he felt dreadful for adding his own supposed death to the mix. If there was anyone Jazz would want to spare from the hardships of this war, it would be Optimus. The Prime had not had a day of rest since the beginning of this war, always continuously running interference between people or fretting about how to be one step ahead of the cons in order to save their planet, and now Earth.

Air Raid and Skydive didn't wait long to transform into their bi-pedal modes before moving past Optimus to help Silverbolt out, with the rest of the team filing out behind them. The jet was a sight for sore eyes with the damage he had sustained; a servo missing, his wings bent unnaturally and chassis caved in on the left side with energon leaking down. It seemed someone had done a shoddy job at patching the Aerialbot up and so Hoist got to work instantly, welding the severed energon line before scanning for additional severed lines.

"What happened Optimus? And where's Ratchet? Why hasn't he seen to Silverbolt's damage?" Hoist asked as Air Raid and Skydive helped Silverbolt towards the Medbay. Jazz intently listened to the conversation using his enhanced hearing.

At a loss for words after the events that had transpired, Optimus for the first time did not have any words for the medic, "There was an accident," Bumblebee said solemly in Optimus' stead, "Wheeljack's device was hit and the resulting explosion took out three of our bots".

It took Hoist a klik to identify the bots as he looked over the group, "No-No that can't be," he said sorrowfully, _No…not now that we have Jazz back_. Jazz saw Ironhide nodding sadly at the medic, confirming his suspicion, while Optimus stared off into nothing. Jazz though still didn't know who the bots that didn't make it were. But then he remembered Hoist saying that Prowl had been off-base with Optimus but the tactician was nowhere in sight. He then decided to show himself to everyone present.

"Where's Prowler?" he asked as he moved away from his spot in the shadows. Every bot jumped at the sound of his voice, staring wide optics at him as Hoist had earlier. Too stunned to answer his question, none of the bots made a move but Jazz could understand their behaviour. If it were him in their position, he would have had a similar reaction. He coolly walked up to the group before smiling, "Hey."

"Jazz…" Optimus was the first one to respond, walking up to the saboteur while raising his servo to touch the other. _Is it really Jazz_, thought the Prime.

"Yea, it's me Optimus. I'm alive."

"JAZZ!" Bumblebee shouted as he launched himself at the Special Ops bot, but Jazz could only laugh at the scout's behaviour before returning the hug.

"It's good to see you Jazz," Ironhide said joyfully as he patted the Special Ops bot on the back while Blaster and Wheeljack beamed from either side of Optimus.

"How is this possible?" the Prime asked, directing his question towards Hoist.

"I'm not sure myself Optimus, he just appeared while I was reading the details of the Washington mission. I ran every scan possible and the results are all the same. It's the real Jazz and functioning perfectly, he doesn't even have any weld marks from Ratchet's repair job," Hoist replied.

"Where's Prowl Optimus? An' Ratchet?" Jazz requested again, looking at his leader.

"Jazz" Optimus started sadly, "it saddens me that at a time like this, I have bad news."

"What happened?" asked Jazz, knowing he would regret the question later.

"Prowl had taken a team to intercept the Decepticons but it was trap from the start. Soundwave had jammed our frequencies and my team was delayed in lending aid. When we arrived, Megatron appeared, from where no one knows, and engaged us. He deliberately fired at Wheeljack's device in an attempt to destroy the few of us who were near it. Some of us got away in time but unfortunately Prowl, Ratchet and Sideswipes were too close to the device and were caught in the resulting explosion along with Starscream and Soundwave," Optimus softly said.

The reaction on Jazz was instantaneous; upon hearing Prowl's death, his visor dimmed as he backed up, "No..." he said shaking his helm, "tha can't be"

Before Optimus could speak further, they were interrupted by a comm hail, "Red Alert to Optimus Prime. Sir we just received a coded transmission on a secure Autobot frequency."

"Do we know from who," asked the Prime.

"No, I'm unable to verify the sender but I have started decoding the message in order to find out."

"Alright, I'm on my way, Prime out," the Autobot leader responded before nodding his helm in the direction of the hallway to the others gathered.

Hoist took that as his cue to head back to the Medbay with the other injured bots; everyone else either headed for their quarters or the rec room, with the exception of the command crew. Ironhide, Bumblebee, Jazz, Blaster and Wheeljack followed Optimus in order to hear this message.

* * *

><p><em>Operations and Communications<em>

Red Alert wasn't lying when he said he had started decoding the message as he comm'd Prime about it. The message seemed very suspicious to him because of the frequency used to transmit it. Vorns ago, when the All Spark was launched into space, one of their secure frequencies was discovered by Soundwave and Optimus had barred everyone from using it. To receive a message on that same frequency, even if it is coded, could mean many things; it could be an old ally who was not aware of the bar or it could be a Decepticon trick. Either way, he wasn't about to take any chances so he took extra precaution by having it decoded on a system outside of their main network in case of a virus attack. Security was his responsibility and he would be damned before anyone infiltrated this base while he was in-charge of security with Ironhide.

He had almost finished decoding the message when Prime entered with the others. Satisfied with the progress, he turned around to give his report to his leader but froze instead. There, standing behind Prime was Jazz, the Autobot Third in Command, someone who was supposed to be dead. _A Decepticon trick!_ But before he could voice his concerns of the immediate threat, Optimus stopped him, "He's not a Decepticon, Red Alert. It's the real Jazz, Hoist confirmed it for us."

"Plus even if he was a Decepticon, you'd be a tad bit too late in seizing him since he's been all over the base already," Ironhide said with a smirk.

Giving Ironhide a look, Red Alert turned his focus on Jazz, "How? Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Yea I've been gettin' dat alot," Jazz replied dryly.

An alarm went off on his consol, indicating the decoding was complete, "Your report," Prime requested.

"The message was sent on an old frequency, actually it's the one you barred us from using," the security director said while looking up at his leader.

Optimus walked up to the consol to verify this himself, and indeed, the message was sent on a frequency that was considered unsecure now. He was about to ask what precautions were taken when the security director answered his unspoken question, "I took the liberty of decoding it off the network; if this is Soundwave's newest token virus, our main systems will be safe from it."

"Soundwave," Blaster repeated curiously, _that cannot be_.

"When did you receive this message," asked Optimus.

"A few kliks before I comm'd you, Sir."

"Then it cannot be from Soundwave. He and Starscream were with Prowl, Ratchet and Sideswipes when the device went off. They couldn't have survived the resulting blast," said Optimus.

"Let's just play it an' see what's it about," Jazz said, now curious as to who could have sent it.

Nodding to his fellow Autobots, Red Alert had the computer recall the message. The message was heavily distorted, so it took him some time to clear up the static and interference in order for it to be audible. Once finished, he played it for the rest.

_"This is Sunstreaker..."_ at the voice and name, the bots were taken aback.

"Sunstreaker" whispered Optimus.

"…_in response to Optimus Prime's message. I, along with Bluestreak, First Aid, Perceptor, Hot Spot, Gears, and the Combaticons, have received your message from an old, decommissioned communications station's buffer unit. We have relayed it to other Autobot and Decepticon allies left on Cybertron and neighboring planets. We are making our way in teams towards the planet known as Earth. We hope to find you and your team in good spark, Optimus. Till all are one, Sunstreaker out!"_

* * *

><p><em>Cybertron, before the Third Great War<em>

It was late in the orbital cycle when a proximity alarm went off at a remote science laboratory, on the edge of Crystal City. The scientists at this location were primarily physicists specializing in quantum mechanics, the study of the behaviour and interaction of matter and energy. In a station such as this, proximity alarms were rare, but with the recent developments with the local wildlife, it was required in order to make sure no one got injured during the experiments carried out. There were only two mechs working within the confines of this laboratory at this time, the usual security guard and one of the scientists who was still working on an on-going project. As was the job description of any security official, the alarm was his duty to check out, even if it was minor.

Pulling up the security cameras, the guard started scanning the perimeter for the cause of the alarm. Nothing yielded on the northern or eastern sides of the facility and so, he moved onto the western side. As he rotated the camera to get a wider view, he noticed something glittering in the corner of the viewscreen. Unable to make out what the object was, he decided to magnify that sector. Upon closer inspection, he noticed it looked like the tail end of a wing. Alarmed, the bot immediately notified the scientist that he was heading out of the compound, before contacting the authorities and moving out.

Discovering five bots in stasis and badly damaged upon arrival, the guard immediately started aiding the five as best he could with the little knowledge he had. Where these mechs came from, he didn't know but it wasn't his concern at the moment. Once the enforcers arrived, it would be their duty to find out who these mechs were, and it didn't take long for them to arrive with medical personal. The mechs were transported to a medical facility within Crystal City, and would be questioned by the enforcers once they were cleared by the medics.


	11. Epilogue

_I added a small bit to the end of the last chapter. It was actually the beginning of this chapter but I felt it would be better placement if it was at the end of the last chapter._

_To Kiren: Thanks for the review =D and here's the answer to your question. I could bury them under tons of moon debris buuuut that wouldn't be any fun now would it ^_^._

_**A mistake is simply another way of doing things. - Katharine Graham**_

* * *

><p><strong><span>Epilogue<span>**

The first thing Ratchet noticed was that his systems felt sluggish and took longer to re-initialize. His damage control systems reported recent damage which had been repaired a few joors ago. It was then that he remembered what had happened last before he was thrown in stasis, and connected the damage with it. As his audio sensors came online, he heard the sounds of medical devices and the whispers of mechs. _Where am I?_ thought the medic as his optics on-lined and he looked around the room as best he could from his prone position. It appeared to be a medical facility but one that he was not familiar with. To his left and right were Prowl and Sideswipe respectively, both deep in recharge.

"You don't seem to recognize the place," someone stated casually from across the room.

Startled, the medic slowly sat up to face Starscream and Soundwave, both awake and apparently, the source of the whispering he had heard.

"Where are we Starscream and what have you done?" demanded Ratchet on instinct.

Growling, the seeker snapped, "Why does everyone think it's always my fault!"

Glaring at the medic, he continued his rant, "You know what, I wasn't the moron that fired at the device. In fact, I was the one trying to disable it instead of just shooting at it like an idiot. No, that honour goes to the _great_ Megatron. I had a brilliant plan laid out but noooo, he just HAD TO come in and ruin it all. I am definitely not to blame for this because I wasn't the half-bit scrap heap that blew that device sky high!"

Taken aback by the sheer intensity of the rant, Ratchet decided it was best not to fuel the seeker's anger anymore than he already had. But, before he could say anything, he was cut off by Soundwave, "Statement: He just stopped and you ruined it."

Leaning his weight on his knee joints, Ratchet could only sigh as he rested his helm in his servos, weariness creeping in. He did not want to deal with a high strung seeker, Starscream of all, so soon after awakening. It was then that he realized Starscream had not answered his question as to where they were, "Starscream, do you recognize this place?"

"Of course I do! I spent most of my time here after getting into fights with people at the Academy," replied Starscream snappishly, still aggravated from the earlier implications.

"Academy?" questioned Ratchet.

Starscream merely looked at him before sighing while laying back down, "Yes the Academy," he said, staring at the ceiling, reminiscing through old times. "Before the war, I went to the Science Academy here in Crystal City. This was where I met Skyfire," the seeker paused before slowly continuing, "we became partners, friends too I guess. But…the other students didn't agree with my presence at the Academy. They used to say that it wasn't a place for a military build, and that I should just go back to Vos and do what I'm most good at, which is killing."

Ratchet looked shocked at the name mentioned by Starscream, "Wait…back up a bit, did you just say we're in Crystal City!"

"Are you going deaf in your old age Autobrat? YES I said we are in Crystal City!" the con yelled, sitting up.

"But that city was destroyed during the early vorns of the war," stated Ratchet.

Starscream snorted, "You're telling me…" he mumbled sarcastically.

"How could this be?" questioned the medic looking utterly lost.

Silence rained down on the two at the question, a question Starscream had been thinking about and could only think of one explanation. Soundwave stayed silent throughout the exchange, preferring to observe and let Starscream do the talking. The two had already discussed the situation and their options while the Autobots were still in recharge; they had decided to ditch the facility once the Autobots woke up. The only reason they didn't leave the place already was because they needed the bots' help for what they were planning.

"Look I don't know exactly when we are but I know without a doubt that this is Crystal City," Starscream said before asking the question he already knew the answer to, but needed clarification, "That device that Megatron destroyed, it was a temporal device wasn't it?"

Ratchet warily looked up at the con, trying to read the seeker but couldn't find any ill intentions, "Yes," he said slowly, "Jack had been working on it since before the All Spark was launched into space."

"There's your explanation then, of how this is possible," Starscream stated before quickly adding, "listen Ratchet, we need to get out of here now. We cannot allow anymore mechs to see us; it could have drastic effects on the space time continuum. This is not something I want to play around with," he explained, going into scientist mode. His love for science had never diminished over the vorns of war; he had simply kept himself in check when in front of other Decepticons and did his research in hiding.

"I take it you know your way around this facility then," Ratchet agreed while nodding at the con.

"Yes I do, we can get out of here without being seen. I can assure of you that."

"Never thought I'd be getting assurances from a Decepticon, let alone the Air Commander," Ratchet said sarcastically before slowly getting up to wake the others.

It was hard for Starscream to ignore snide comments, but he did so nevertheless as the situation required him to keep calm. He was their only means of escaping this place undetected and he would see it through if only to further his own interests. They had a unique opportunity that could be exploited to change Cybertron's fate, as long as no one knew of their existence.

It didn't take long for Ratchet to revive the other two Autobots; Sideswipe, for some reason, had been faster than the tactician. Starscream was curious of this fact but did not mention it, especially since the silver bot woke on his own accord it seemed. "We need to hurry, the second we disconnect these, alarms are going to go off and I want be to gone before anyone gets in here," Starscream said.

Nodding at the con, Ratchet whispered to the others, "Look I know you two don't want to follow him but he is the only one who can lead us out of here."

"What's going on Ratch? Where are we?" Sideswipe asked.

"We'll explain later but for now, you just have to trust my judgment."

Prowl nodded at Ratchet while Sideswipe glared at the cons, not trusting them and wondering what they might have said to Ratchet to convince him. Ratchet was one of the harder bots to convince and so, he knew something big had to have tipped his favour.

* * *

><p><em>Sometime later…<em>

The five were able to avoid the security detail and all personal within the facility on their way out. From the look on the bots' faceplates at the sight of the city, Starscream knew there would be a lot of explaining once they were a good distance away. But first he needed to find out which era they were in and the exact date. He didn't want to risk causing more damage than what had already been dealt, with their presence. Crystal City had a few observation platforms which were used by mechs for a variety of reason, one being to acquire telemetry data. So he signaled the rest to follow him towards one of the higher observation platforms, the exact one he used to visit with Skyfire. It was here he would find the information he needed and, even though he wasn't fond of his terran form, he was grateful for it and his military upgrades now; at least this way, mechs who knew him would not be able to recognize him.

Once they made their way off the elevator, Starscream lead the group towards a secluded area of the platform. As they made their way around he did not see anyone he recognized, aggravating the seeker a bit, "He's not here," he bit out to no one particular.

"Who's not here Screamer? What are we doing since there's nothing here!" Sideswipe said frustrated that he still didn't have a clue as to what was going on.

"Statement: Explanations are in order," stated Soundwave as he walked up to the railing, leaning against it and peering down below.

"Yes I guess they are, Starscream if you will," Ratchet said nonchalantly, going over to stand by Soundwave and admiring the view.

"They are your bots medic, why should I have to explain anything to them," the seeker said grumpily, but all he received was a insipid look from the bot. Starscream growled at the medic before giving in, "Very well slagger, listen up you puny Autobrats I won't repeat myself. We are currently in Crystal City; this platform we are on is one of three observation platforms around this city which is used by scientists for telemetry information gathering. I'm not sure exactly what era we are in, but from the little I have seen of the city-"

Prowl had the same reaction as Ratchet before popping the exact question the seeker did not want to hear, "Wait, did you say Crystal City?"

Starscream paused, giving the bot a look, "Are you going deaf too?" the seeker asked in a deadpanned voice, earning a snicker from the medic.

"I do not understand, I was just merely looking for clarification to your statement," Prowl said, genuinely confused at the reaction he was receiving from the con. He could not find anything wrong with his question nor why it would evoke such a response.

"Never mind," Starscream mumbled. "YES I said Crystal City", yelled the seeker, "with a big C and I know what you're going to say next, '_That can't be, it was destroyed'_," pausing before grinning like a mad mech, "am I right?"

_He's lost it_, thought Soundwave as he thoroughly enjoyed the moment. It's not every day one gets to see Starscream bent out of shape over an explanation. Explanations never were his forte as he didn't like repeating himself to anyone and it was quite enjoyable watching him act like he was missing a few bolts.

"Anyway, that device your engineer had…well, let's just say that there must have been a cascade failure and the resulting feedback must have opened a rift in the space time continuum. It sent us back in time, to which date I don't know yet but it seems like before the war. If that is the case then we may have a unique situation at our disposal," concluded the con.

Snorting, Ratchet merely stated the one thing Starscream was dreading, "If you're implying what I think you are, the answer's no."

"But think of what we can do here, the good that can happen if we just change some things," Starscream quickly added, trying his best to convince the CMO.

"And think of the disaster that can happen if we make one mistake. Plus, what makes you think you will be a better leader than Megatron," Prowl chimed in, knowing exactly what the seeker wanted to do.

"Because I have the best interests of Cybertron in mind, unlike that worthless Megatron whose only wish is to rule the universe," replied the seeker.

"Yea right…" mumbled Sideswipe, loud enough for the seeker to hear.

"Do you have a better idea then?" Starscream asked, anger getting the better of him.

"Yes, find a secluded place and live out the rest of our existence without interfering with history."

The Air Commander looked stunned at the bot's statement, "You can't be serious Autobot!" yelled Starscream, "we have an opportunity to save our home and you want to just hide away!"

"Ratchet's right. We shouldn't interfere because for all we know, we might push the destruction of Cybertron forward in time," Prowl said, trying to reason with the con.

"And weren't you the one complaining about 'drastic effects on the space time continuum' earlier, and now, you want to change history as we know it," retorted Ratchet.

"Because it's the right thing to do!" shrieked Starscream.

Silence rained down on the group, no one knowing what to say. Frustrated, Starscream growled at the rest before walking away from the group. Not about to let the seeker cause any damage, Sideswipe tried to follow him but was stopped by Soundwave, "Statement: He will not do anything, he will return".

"So what now?" Ratchet asked, directing the question towards Prowl.

Prowl didn't answer, processors running on high planning out their next move; they would need new identities along with jobs and a place of residence. They needed to do that without being seen by anyone they knew for the situation was very precarious and the smallest mistake could have disastrous effects. The only comfort they had were in their terran forms; no one would be able to recognize them in these forms but once they spoke, their identities would be known.

"We need to get new identities, and in order to that, we will need to hack into the central database which is located in Iacon," Prowl said.

"Have you lost your processor? We can't go hacking into the central database; that place is guarded by the Elite Guard. There's no way we would ever be able to infiltrate that place and I doubt we could just ask them to let us in," said the silver warrior, not liking where Prowl was going.

"Proposition: If you provide me with the security codes, I can access the system from any data-port within Iacon. We will not have to deal with your Elite Guard this way," Soundwave simply stated.

"Absolutely not!" yelled Ratchet, frustration getting the better of him, "We are Autobots and we are not giving the codes for the only secure data-net within Cybertron to a Decepticon."

"Then what do you propose we do Ratchet?" asked Prowl, equally frustrated with the CMO.

The group started arguing on what they should do, each having a different opinion. Tensions were at its highest and the situation was not getting resolved. Ratchet's stubbornness would not let him see that this was the only course of action available to them. So engrossed the mechs were that they did not notice the mech walking up to them until they were addressed, "**Excuse me good mechs, are you lost?**"

Startled by the new voice, the four turned to face the mech who had spoken. The three bots starred with shocked optics at none other than Skyfire, or at least a younger version of himself. The situation could not have been more awkward than what it was at the moment.

"**I'm sorry, do you understand what I am saying,**" Skyfire tried again when all he received was silence.

Prowl was the first one to recover, replying in Cybertronian for the group "**Yes, we understand you.**"

"**Oh thank Primus, I was afraid for a bit there that you wouldn't understand me. I apologize for interrupting your…uh…conversation,**" Skyfire apologized.

"**Nothing to apologize for, we should be the ones apologizing as we seem to have forgotten where we are and were being a little too loud. We apologize for the ruckus caused by our…conversation,**" Prowl replied hesitantly.

"**Oh not at all, it is a public area and you are free to do as you please. You don't seem to be from around here, I have never actually heard the language you speak. May I ask what it's called?**" Skyfire asked with a smile.

The mechs looked at each other at the question, not knowing what the repercussions of answering such a question could be. But they were saved from their dilemma as someone else answered for them, "**The language is known as English,**" Starscream said softly as he walked up to the group. The seeker had an unreadable expression on his faceplates, one that made the bots very curious as they had never known the mech to be soft towards anyone.

"**English,**" Skyfire beamed, "**I have never heard of it, where is it from?**" At the silence he received, Skyfire realized that he had not introduced himself to the group, "**Oh my where are my manners, I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Skyfire, I'm one of the students of the Science Academy here in Crystal City.**"

"**The name's Comet,**" Starscream offered as he walked past the group to stand in front of Skyfire, "**My…friends here were just discussing what we should visit next and got caught up in the moment**."

Smiling, Skyfire laughed good naturedly, "**I know how that can be.**"

"**Skyfire, what are you doing?**" someone called out from afar. Looking past the mech, the five noticed a tri-coloured seeker walking up to them. "**We are going to be late for the seminar if we don't hurry back. I really want to hear what this mech has to say about Plasma Energy.**"

"**Alright Starscream, calm down. We'll get there in time,**" Skyfire said gently, unfazed by his friend's haste.

"**But I don't want to miss anything he says,**" whined the seeker, "**this could bring about a revolutionary period for Cybertron. Think of what we can achieve if this energy is harnessable.**"

"**I know I know,**" Skyfire said before turning towards the five, "**I apologize but I must take my leave. I hope you all enjoy your time here,**" and with a smile, left with the seeker.

"Comet?" Sideswipe questioned in English once the two were out of audio range.

"None of your business slagger," Starscream replied with as much venom as he could muster, as he started walking away from the group.

"Is he the reason why you want to change things?" Ratchet called out sincerely.

"Ratchet-" Sideswipe cut in but halted when Ratchet held up his servo.

Pausing, the seeker starred ahead bleakly before slowly responding, "Not everything you know of the Decepticons are true. Some of us are not who you really think we are". Turning around slightly, Starscream looked over through the corner of his vision, continuing his explanation, "Before the war, there were few of us who led different existences. I used to be a science student till unforeseen events changed who I used to be and made me who I am now. Mechs like me could not be anything outside of what we were sparked for, the council made sure of that. I was eventually expelled from the Academy due to reasons I rather not say."

"The council would never stop you from doing what you truly wanted to do, it's your own fault if you were thrown out," Sideswipe growled, even as Ratchet held him back. He was furious at the seeker for making up lies.

"I suppose," Starscream simply said looking off to the side, not wanting to make optic contact with anyone.

"What would you propose if we decided to change the events that are going to happen, Starscream?" asked Prowl in a neutral tone.

Everyone turned to look at the Autobot Second, shocked that he, of all, would suggest that they tamper with the timeline. The stiff, rule abiding tactician who would never let anyone under his command skip patrol duty or even play a prank; what had the universe come to?

"You can't be serious Prowl-" exclaimed Sideswipes but Ratchet cut the bot off, motioning for him to keep silent while staring at the tactician. Prowl met his stare evenly, and Ratchet was able to see why the tactician had conceded.

Starscream looked from one bot to the other before saying what he had in mind, "I was hoping we could come up with something together. Between the five of us, we have unique talents that we can use to tip the balance."

"And in whose favour are we tipping it?" Ratchet asked calmly. Starscream was silent, not knowing how to phrase his next statement but his silence was misinterpreted by Ratchet, "And this is where the problems lies," Ratchet spoke for him, after a few kliks of waiting.

"Explanation: We do not care for politics; we just want things to be fair amongst all Cybertronians. There are those within the Decepticon ranks who would have been Autobots if it weren't for the way they were treated. There are also those who became Decepticons against their will, such as the Constructicons. They were Cybertron's finest architects and builders, this city being their pride and joy, as the humans would put it. Some Decepticons only joined Megatron because he promised equality for all, we were blind to what he was really doing until we started losing comrades," said Soundwave, thinking about his sparklings.

"We can change events, like the destruction of our major cities or even the countless battles we had. Of course there are those that we cannot change, such as the launch of the All Spark. That must happen exactly how we know it because the events that follow are important," noted Starscream.

Sideswipes looked at the seeker, confused by the statement, "Wait, why can't we prevent the All Spark from being launched? Wouldn't that save it in the end?"

"No, that launch brought about a lot of change for Cybertron. The time Megatron spends away from Cybertron is crucial as loyalties become a gray zone and it will be easy to turn mechs away from the Decepticon cause. Not only that but contact with Earth is needed for Cybertron's survival. And I don't mean resource wise, I mean in terms of an ally, as long as we don't get their world blown up," the seeker elucidated.

"Who are you and what have you done with our Screamer!" Ratchet asked sarcastically, astonished at what the seeker was saying. Who knew Starscream could say such things! The most they knew about the seeker was that he was very self-centered.

"Very funny," mocked Starscream before continuing, "We still need to get new identities which means hacking the database," he said, looking pointedly at Ratchet and receiving a scowl in return. "I know why you don't want us to but we don't have a choice. We need to get resources which means we need to have legit identities in order to work and trade within Cybertron. Autobot or Decepticon should not matter anymore, this is not for our own gain; it is for Cybertron."

Ratchet pointedly ignored the seeker, knowing he would just get angry at the situation, but conceded nonetheless. He saw the reasoning but wished there was a different way to go about it. "I know you think this is a mistake Ratchet but sometimes, a mistake is simply another way of doing things," Prowl said with a sad smile, as he looked at Ratchet.

"Statement: We should start immediately; it will take some time to reach Iacon."

"Hang on, if we are going to do this, when the time comes, how are we going to travel to Earth? Not like we can just hitch a ride with anyone and worse, people will ask questions about our alt modes," Sideswipe asked.

"Leave that to me, I'm sure I can figure something out…of course, with your help Ratchet," Starscream pronounced, looking expectantly at the medic. Ratchet nodded his agreement as this type of situation was not uncommon to the medic as he had built a multitude of objects with Wheeljack.

Prowl looked at each of the mechs before giving the command to move out, "Let's roll out."

And so, the five mechs started on their journey, a journey that would inadvertently bring them closer to each other than they would have ever imagined. Factions becoming a topic of the past, a pact forged from determination and hope as a more important task lies ahead; the survival of their race and their home.

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><p><em>Reviews would be nice, it's sad with the number of people that have read this story and put it on alerts, only two people have actually bothered writing a review. An author should not have to put "Please R &amp; R" after every chapter. I think with the effort authors put into planning and writing out fanfics for the community, readers should at least have the dignity to leave a review of whether its good or bad. It only takes a few minutes of your time and does a whole lot more for the author.<em>


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